


Bloodlines

by Verona_mira



Category: Cinderella Phenomenon (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Family, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2020-07-20 14:55:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 71,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19994065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verona_mira/pseuds/Verona_mira
Summary: She had woken up on the streets. No one remembering her, nothing of her old life left. She hadn't expected to get lucky when the day ended. Only years later, looking back at this day, she would be able to appreciate how lucky she had been.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, here goes nothing.^__^  
> I had a few people reading it over already. I have their approval and I hope that whoever reads it, is going to enjoy it. I do not know how regulary updates will be, but I hope you'll stay with me to the end.
> 
> Have fun reading!
> 
> PS: Great thanks @charlj, @ShipperGremlin and @katiekat from the Cinderella Phenomen Discord Server for beta reading and critique. And everone there, who keeps encouraging others to write and post stuff.

In the end it all started with a letter. An old letter hidden in an old and unused room in a mostly unused area of the palace. The already yellowish paper had been hidden away in a folder inside a drawer. Lucette hadn't been impressed by the room initially, but she had grown to prefer this one over the other places where she tended to spend her time.

And this room was out of the way. Not even the maids came here to clean it. And if a maid tasked by her father to find her didn't come to get her, then it wasn't because the maid was never sent in the first place, but simply because no one thought about looking here. And maybe, if she told herself that often enough, she may even believe it instead of accepting that the cold feeling coiling inside her was the reaction to the fact that he simply didn't care.

The room wasn't big, but it must have been used at _some_ point at least. The curtains were still drawn back from the window and there was a small terrace in front of it. There were seats arranged around a low table, cushioned but dusty. A drawer at the wall with an empty vase on it, a painting above.

It was a portrait she had never seen before, but the woman looked somehow familiar, with dark hair and yellowish eyes just like her own. She hadn't known at the beginning and had spent some time wondering who it was, before she had found the inscription in the frame, labeling her as Helena Britton, wife to Alexander Britton IV, her grandfather on her father's side of the family.

It was the first time she had ever seen a hint of her grandmother in her whole life. She looked young in the picture and Lucette needed to admit that she barely knew anything about the woman outside her name. She had brown hair and the same yellow eyes she had gotten from her own father.

The woman was smiling in the painting, wearing a cream colored dress with tiny flowers stitched along the hems of the different layers. She looked… friendly. And soft. Nothing like her mother ever had. She couldn't have left much of an impression when no one had ever mentioned her to Lucette before now.

But she was still curious about that woman, especially with her own mother gone, the wound still fresh and gaping inside her, the princess was longing for every scrap of distraction from the pain she could grasp.

The room was… empty of any signs of what kind of person she had been, outside of being seemingly quite talented at sewing and stitching from what the girl could gather from the material in the drawer. It was a talent she hadn't expected to share with the unknown woman. Her own mother had after all told her that sewing was unbecoming for a princess.

And then Lucette had found the letters.

She had simply put them aside when she had found them, not noticing what was inside the folder until she had been about to put it back.

The initial uncomfortable feeling she had felt about reading them had faded as well. The woman was long dead, and whatever was written in there had most likely lost importance long ago.

And so she had taken the folder one day and moved over to the window where the sun was shining into the room, starting to decipher the faded ink. It only took the greeting to realize that the letter was _to_ her grandmother and not written by her.

_Dear Helena,_

_How are you doing? It has been some time since your last letter reached me and I was very happy to hear that you managed to conceive. I hope everything is going well. If there is any kind of problem, just send for me and I'll come as fast as I can. Atreus will help and teleport me. Especially if it is about another descendant of some kind, even when he can't stand Alexander. You know this isn't about you. _

_Aion is eight already and getting into trouble left and right. I started him up on his healing lessons and it is reining him in at least a bit. He was always curious about it since the first time I brought him to the village with me and he saw me using it._

_And when he does get a bit much, Richard and Atreus are always happy to take him for a few hours. Father is finally getting better. Losing Arianna to that accident had really brought him down and it is good to see him recovering. I don't know what he was like after losing his first wife, but from what I heard from Jack it was pretty bad._

_Is your father still teasing you about how you got to know your husband? It sounded like a story he would never stop telling, simply to embarrass you. Richard is still laughing every time someone hints at it and Aion recently asked how someone can end up that drunk in the first place. I guess it is good that out here there is no risk for him to run into his uncle. But then a good curse may put a few things straight in that guys head._

_I admit, I am not missing court at all. It was tedious, even with Richard around. I guess, we got lucky that Alexander was so eager to move up in the line of succession. Is he already regretting it? Did he already notice how different it is from what he may have thought it was?_

_Well, I am far away from it and not regretting it at all. And with us so far away from the capital, no one can say that we're trying to undermine his authority in any kind of way. Your husband is either quite paranoid or his advisers are. Whack him over the head please, if he starts acting stupid. Males need that at times. Richard gets tunnel vision often enough._

_Aion and Richard both miss you and wish you well._

_And just remember: If you have enough from the whispers and gossip and the corsets chaining your soul, father can always make space for you here. He is your grandfather as well after all._

_In love and wishing your well for your proceeding pregnancy,_

_Your aunt Mýrún_

Aunt… she had other relatives? Outside her father and mother? She had never thought about that before. Her mother had always been there and she had never needed anyone else.

But now she wasn't, hadn't been for three months and there was this gaping hole inside her yearning for parental affection again. But her father was barely acknowledging her existence to begin with, had barely talked to her during the last months since mother died.

Carefully she followed the loop of the signature on the paper with a finger tip.

Who else was there? This Mýrún had mentioned her father, who was her grandmother's grandfather, making him her own great-great-grandfather. But was the man even alive now? The letter was written before her father was an adult at least. But he wasn't even mentioned there.

Lucette read the letter again, eyes stopping at a phrase. 'But then a good curse may put a few things straight in that guys head' the woman had written. But only witches could curse. 

There were witches in her family tree? Was that why mother had kept her away from father? But mother had hated the fairy tales picturing witches like that.

Thoughts running in her head, she carefully put the letter back away into the drawer and left the room. She… needed to think about that. And do some research. Her grandfather -the prior king- was named Alexander, but she had never heard of any siblings… The royal archives should have something about that. The spouses of the ruling royalty always got thoroughly recorded down to specify the family tree.

She just… She needed some time to sort everything out.


	2. Chapter 01 - At The End Of The Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And due to the Prologue being so short, you'll get the first real chapter in short order. Have fun reading.

"You! Leave the girl alone, right now!"

Initially, Lucette hadn't been sure who was more surprised. She, or the men who had been trying to grab her. The woman storming down the street, wearing all black, and yellow eyes almost glowing in the darkness, had also been nothing she had expected.

"Something you want to get involved in, hag?" one of the males sneered and golden eyes tightened. The next moment there was a yelp of pain and the man stumbled away, holding his stomach, where the woman had prodded him with her umbrella. "Some manners would do you some good, brute!" she replied coldly, approaching them without breaking her stride, poking the umbrella into their direction, making them stumble backward, most likely more out of surprise than genuine fear. "Shoo," the woman sneered at them, "I am sure you have other things to do than harassing young girls."

"Listen here, hag- ow!" the man recoiled, having gotten hit over the head with the umbrella. "Language!," the woman scolded him with a strict expression, "and I saw enough of what was going on, to guess what you two just tried! So, shoo! Shoo!"

There was something surreal about watching the woman prodding her umbrella at the two men, scolding them about their behavior and manners and not stopping until both of them were on the run from her. From the hits, they were most likely going to have some impressive bruises in the morning.

There was a vicious feeling of satisfaction blooming inside her for a moment, watching the men scrambling away from them. "I-" she stopped to think over what she was about to say. "Thank you." After the day she had just suffered through that bout of help had been… appreciated. If she had the possibility, she would have curled up in her bedroom and tried to forget that this day had ever happened.

She hadn't expected to still feel the stab of pain when her father had genuinely not recognized her. They hadn't talked much before, but he had at least known her name.

The woman gave her a testing look and then nodded to herself. "Alright girl, come on. Shelter is still a bit away, and I don't want to be around if these guys decide to come back with friends."

"What-?" Lucette found herself sputtering while the woman started herding her along. "Why would you do that!?" The woman frowned at her. "For one, I didn't drive these thugs off just to leave you alone out here. And I have  _ eyes _ . You're too well fed and clean to be a street waif. You aren't used to not wearing shoes. And that necklace is nothing a street girl would wear. It would have been long sold. And don't even let me start on your posture and general behavior. You're clearly educated. As such there must at least be a good reason for you to be on the streets like this," she said and the princess found herself blinking in surprise, before nodding slowly.

That was… reasonable at least. And it would definitely beat staying out on the streets during the night. "And now come. Before they remember that men tend to be physically stronger than women and that there were two of them. And you are in no state to fight."

For a moment Lucette mourned her knife, which was most likely still hidden in her bedroom. It would have been pretty useful, if it had come down to it. Not that anyone knew that she possessed it.

Making sure to not step on any sharp edged stones, she started following the woman through the streets. Her guide didn't comment on her slower pace, leading her through the streets and alleys. After some time they had left the center of the city behind. Crowded buildings lining the streets made way for houses with backyards, gardens, surrounded by hedges and fences, both high and low.

The dark clothed woman stopped in front of the garden gate, opened it quietly and soon they were seated at a kitchen table and Lucette found herself looking around curiously. The house was bigger than she had expected, with more than one floor and a garden. The house front was facing the street, the garden wall merging with it. 

Being inside after a whole day outside was welcome. She hadn't even noticed how cold she had gotten during the day, the temperature seeping into her bare arms and feet, especially after the sun started dropping.

Smooth wooden floors, plants in pots, a few carpets, paintings and other small decorations turned it into a tasteful environment.

"Just sit down over there," the woman gestured at the kitchen table, "I'll make some tea and then you can explain what happened that you ended up that situation. Call me Helena, girl."

Lucette didn't know what exactly was happening, but resting in a chair, nursing a cup of tea, away from people sneering and laughing at her and the warmth slowly returning to her body...

"My full name is Lucette Riella Britton," she finally said, "And one of my dolls turned out to be a witch in disguise."

"Britton, like the royal bloodline?" Lucette nodded at the question. "The late queen Hildyr was my mother."

Yellow eyes looked her over and Lucette wondered for a moment how common this shade of color was. Her father had it, she had it herself, Fritz and Alcaster had it as well. Mythros also had darker shade and now that woman also possessed it.

But she had never seen it on anyone else. And she couldn't help it, but she was sure, she had seen the woman before somewhere.

"Well, you at least have the look for it, girl. The necklace is from the curse then?"

She pulled up the necklace and looked at the pendant. "I would say so. It appeared when Delora cast the curse."

"Delora? Long black hair, red eyes?" Helena frowned.

"Wears a purple, black, white dress?" Lucette shot back, "I got the doll half a year ago to my birthday."

"Stupid women! First they don't do anything for four years and then they scramble around when time runs out!" her host snarled all of sudden.

"You know her?" Lucette got out surprised.

"I know  _ of _ her. And the company she keeps. And the date fits her disappearing from them," Helena sighed. "There is another reason why I believe you, but I'll explain that one at… a later time. It's too late for this kind of talk anyway."

Lucette nodded slowly, taking another sip from her tea, glancing around the house. Everything was tidy, clean and well taken care of.

"I live alone, but there is an empty room with a guest bed where you can sleep," Helena finally said. "Stay put here for a moment. I should have something else for you to wear. That dress may be useful as kitchen rags at most."

Half an hour later, after a basic clean up and wearing a nightgown, Lucette sat down on the bed with a comb and started sorting her hair out.

Combing the knots out, she looked around the room. It wasn't a big room, but clean. Something that also applied to the bed. A lot smaller than her own bed, but welcomingly soft after the disastrously exhausting day.

When she finally laid down, she was out like a light within moments.

-oOo-

Lucette woke up when there was something soft tickling her face.

Half asleep she tried to brush away the hair that had escaped her braid and frowned when her hand found something warm with... fur?

Confused she opened her eyes and found herself looking at blue eyes in a dark, furry face with triangular ears.

The cat meowed at her and pushed its head into her hand. Carefully she slightly dug her fingers into the fluffy fur, and flinched in surprise when another cat jumped onto the bed as well, pouncing the first one.

A bundle of squirming, furry limbs hit the floor, parted and both shot out of the ajar door, racing each other.

Dumbfounded, the princess looked after them for a few moment, before looking around. The curtains of the window were open and weak sunlight was streaming into the room already.

Over the chair, at the small table at the side of the room hung another piece of clothing, which turned out to be a simple white dress falling just over her knees.

She looked around the unfamiliar room once more and then stepped through the door into the hallway.

The house was quiet. After years of the busy hallways of the palace, it felt disconcerting. She was used to hearing the noise of people hurrying around outside her room. There was no sign of the cats.

Slowly, she stepped down the staircase to the lower level and glanced into the kitchen. The door into the garden was ajar and a glance out the window showed the cats strolling through the garden between flowers and bushes.

There was no sign of Helena anywhere.

In the living room there was something colourful that caught her eye, and she stepped closer to the low table between the sofas in front of the fireplace.

A closer look revealed it to be a collection of colourful yarn bundles, a needle pillow and a piece of fabric with a few flowers already stitched onto it.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she picked it up to inspect the embroidery more closely.

"On, you're awake earlier than I assumed you would be," a voice suddenly came from behind her, startling her.

Carefully she put the fabric back down and turned around. "Good morning," she replied calmly. Upsetting her host would be stupid. "The cats woke me."

Helena sighed, putting the fresh flowers she was holding into a vase. "Velvet and Rose are dears, but noisy menaces. They were most likely curious about the stranger in their home."

As if knowing she was talking about them, both cats strolled inside and twirled around Helena's legs. Smiling the woman bent down to scratch them.

Lucette eyed the interaction curiously. There had never been any pets in the palace and the only animals she had ever interacted with were the horses during her riding lessons.

Helena straightened up again and then looked her over with a smile. "Ah, good. I wasn't sure how well this one would fit you."

"It's alright," she replied. A lot better than the rag dress in any case.

"Good. That was the only one I had available in that size and my things wouldn't fit you that well."

"You have dresses in different sizes lying around?" Lucette raised a brow in surprise.

"Oh, sometimes I take work home with me," Helena explained, "But the customer didn't come to the store to specify the decorations she wanted, so I left it here."

"So, you're... a seamstress?" Lucette found herself asking and glanced back to the embroidery.

"Yes," Helena nodded, "I have a store near the plaza where I work during most days of the week. You were looking at the patterns when I came in. Do you like them?"

"They... look well made," she said, picking the fabric back up to inspect them, "I like the lilies. I prefer white ones, but the red ones are also pretty."

"Thank you," the woman gave her a small smile, "Do you sew yourself?"

Lucette stilled. It had been some time since she had done anything like that. Her mother had taken her handicrafts away at some point, saying it wasn't worthy of her time. While she had pondered filling the time she had formerly spent with her mother with other things, sewing or embroidery had never turned up among the possibilities, the daughter unwilling to disobey her dead mother.

"I did," she finally said, "I made dresses for my dolls. Mother said I was wasting my time."

She had liked sewing new dresses for her dolls. But her mother's orders had been absolute.

Helena was quiet for a moment, straightening a few strands of yarn that had fallen into disarray when Lucette had dropped the fabric on them in surprise.

"That's... surprising. I never heard anything about that before. To receive something handmade from a princess is supposed to be a great honor and a possible sign of favour without any outrageous actions being connected with it," the woman shook her head in confusion, "You were self-taught, then?"

There was a short pause, "Not completely. A nanny showed me at first," she finally said. It was strange how she couldn't remember the woman in question. She could still remember the feeling of soft fabric under her hands and pricking her fingers at the beginning. But not the face, or name, or voice.

"Always a good way to start," Helena nodded calmly, "Letting you stay for free may be a bit too generous, I admit. And I know quite well what young people with nothing to do may come up with. But if you're willing to help me with a few things at the store..."

Lucette frowned. "What exactly?"

"I make most money sewing clothes. But there are always some people wanting a quick repair of a loose button or replacing all buttons. And while custom ordered embroidered decorations would sell well, I don't have the time to do it myself," the woman explained.

That... didn't sound too bad. She had liked sewing when she had been able to do it. And it wouldn't be a waste of her time, because it would keep her host happy, but...

"I haven't sewn in years," she pointed out, "My skills there may be... unfitting."

"A button is easy to attach," Helena waved off, "And about the embroidery, I'll give you a test piece you can practice on and then we'll see."

-oOo-

She was wearing her hair down and it felt strange. There was no hair band around to hold her hair together. Lucette may be able to make one down the line, but not at the moment.

Leaning back into the sofa, she looked around the room again. Everything still looked the same, the only difference was that Helena had left to handle her store. Light was falling through the windows and fresh flowers were spreading a sweet smell from their vase. The cats were lazing around in sunny spots on the floor.

This day marked the end of the first week she was spending at the house and she found herself getting used to it already.

Even without her dolls to talk to, she wasn't alone. If she felt like it, she could simply take the rod with the feather bundle and twitch it in front of a cat. And when the cat was played tired it would come to cuddle, so loneliness wasn't a problem anymore for a while.

Carefully she traced the embroidered flower growing on the fabric with a fingertip. She hadn't noticed how much she had missed working like this. She remembered spending hours upon hours thinking up dresses for her dolls and trying to make them. It had bridged the hours her mother hadn't been around and no one had been there to keep her company after the last nanny had been fired.

The only thing really bothering her - with the absence of whispers and glances thrown her way - was the scratching in her throat and even that was lessening by the day.

She wouldn't have been surprised about getting sick after the day on the streets like that, the slight fever she had developed by evening the day after had been expected. Helena had noticed it quickly though, despite her not saying anything, and had decided to let her stay at home to practice her skills instead of taking her to the store with her.

The woman wasn't like anyone Lucette had ever known. Her tutors had always been strict, but polite, liking their position enough to not risk it with bad behavior. Her stepsister was irritatingly friendly. Her stepbrother blissfully distant and keeping away from her. Fritz was friendly, but also duty bound. The king was... distant at best. Ophelia simply someone who was there, but didn't seem to possess a spine, with how easily she gave up on confrontations.

The maids and other servants weren't worth mentioning.

Helena was... different. While she did remind Lucette of Ophelia, the woman could be a lot more forceful than she had ever seen her stepmother be. She really couldn't see that woman prodding an umbrella at offending men.

There was strictness in her demands, proven when she had ordered Lucette to bed when the fever appeared. And patient instructions when the memories of needle and thread had still been far away.

Lucette looked back at the flower on the fabric. With nothing else to do during the day, her skills had started to improve steadily. There were no lessons to attend, people to hide from, no whispers she needed to listen to. It was… quiet and calm, and surprisingly relaxing.

She looked at the cats, which she still couldn't tell apart. They looked exactly the same to her. Both had the same cream-colored long fur with dark paws, tail, face and ear. And both could end up curling up on your lap, demanding attention at the same time. But at the moment they were both happy in their sunny spots, tails and ears twitching on occasion.

Absently letting her fingers keep running over the fabric and feeling the pattern, she tried to think about what was going to happen soon. Helena had mentioned that she planned to take her into town when she wasn't sick anymore. For one, to show her how to orientate herself in town, and two how to not get lost, and to show her where the store was.

She didn't like the idea much. But Helena had also taken her in and it… wasn't unreasonable. And with people no longer remembering her, there should be way less glares and stares going around.

The thought of the curse made her more conscious about the necklace around her neck, single glass slipper hanging on it and seemingly mocking her.

Cinderella was the only fairytale known where glass slippers were prominent in. And in the original tale a girl of good standing had gotten turned into a kitchen maid and later managed to go to a ball with magical help and got chosen by the prince to be his bride, the stepsisters getting their eyes hacked out by birds during the wedding.

Helena had admitted that such an outcome was unlikely from what she knew about Delora and company. If it came down to it, she also knew where this company was housed, but Lucette was unwilling to search the witch out that had cursed her. She really didn't want to deal with the woman yet. Or ever again if possible.

As it was, she wasn't even sure what she felt about this situation. Sure, she wasn't on the streets and she wouldn't be housed for free as soon as Helena deemed her skills well enough and she was healthy, but...

She couldn't help it, but she felt like she had seen the woman before somewhere. It was a strange feeling, she couldn't shake it off, either, but no matter how long she thought about it, she simply couldn't pinpoint  _ where! _

It was frustrating.

And thinking was the only thing she could do about it, because there wasn't anything else she could do while staying here. Also, she wasn't sure how she should ask the woman about it. She didn't want to tip her hand about that. No matter how nice the woman was, she barely knew her.

Why had she been taken in like that? At the first evening Helena had mentioned another reason why she believed Lucette's story, but had never brought it up again either.

After having a few days to calm down about the situation and time to think the thoughts were at the front of her mind again and persistent.

_ Why was that woman helping her? Why did she believe her? Why did she look familiar? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? _

And if she believed everything just like that, then why wasn't she looking at Lucette with the same disdain, fear or hate like all the others had?

She could ask, but she didn't want to risk the hospitality. Helena had been... nice. And Lucette knew at least so much about people that doubting their intentions may upset them. Because you showed distrust in the first place or because you looked through their plans, proving them less sneaky than they thought themselves to be.

Which of the two would Helena be?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cat pouncing onto her lap and snuggling up to her, pushing its up head up under her piece of fabric to give her a wide-eyed look and meowed, looking utterly innocent of any wrong-doing.

There was a strange feeling of warmth rising up inside her as she put the fabric on the table beside the sofa and started running her fingers through the soft fur, getting rewarded by a deep rumbling purr, the cat starting to knead its paws into her stomach at the same time.

"You don't have any worries, hm?" She said quietly, "You just want attention and food and a warm and safe place to sleep." A lot less worries than she had right now, the most pressuring one being what would happen if she didn't manage to break her curse, the sooner the better. She had stepsiblings now, which would have moved up in the line of succession with her not being remembered.

And at some point, it may not matter anymore that she had been crown princess at some point. What then?

It was a fear she barely dared to think on.

If everything was taken like that, taken  _ easily _ like that… what was left? People hadn't liked her, had openly wanted Emelaigne as crown princess instead. What would happen when people remembered and noticed how easy it was to achieve that? Delora couldn't have been the only witch around...

The possibility of breaking the curse, gaining everything just to lose it again, was also frightening, a fear buried deep into her mind.

How would the king even react to remembering his own child? Would he even remember they had met at the gate?

The cat on her lap squirmed a bit before calming back down.

She eyed the animal for a few moments, fingers steadily parting the fur. The other cat jumping onto the armrest startled her, making her jerk around to look at the cat.

Petting stopped and bliss disrupted by the movement, both cats ended up looking at her, eyeing her from blue eyes.

The next moment there were squabbling furry bodies on her lap and both cats settled down there.

Watching the bodies slightly move with every breath and feeling the warmth slowly seeping through her dress where the cats were snuggled up against her was strangely comforting, just like the furry head pushing itself into her hand when she carefully combed through the fur between the ears.

If she had known having cats was that... relaxing, she would have demanded one years ago.

No matter her father's opinion on that!

-oOo-

It was a sunny morning when Helena took out a handbag from somewhere and showed her how to properly store the handicrafts supplies in it.

Lucette could guess what was going to happen the moment the bag was taken out and could feel her mood dropping with it fast. If Helena noticed, she didn't comment on it, instead letting her pack everything herself, so she would remember better how it was done.

She did leave while Lucette was busy though, and returned with shoes fitting Lucette. Soon after she was steering the girl out of the door.

"Don't be like that," Helena said with an amused expression, "Is being outside really that bad?" Lucette frowned and glanced around, taking in the crowd around her, while making sure to not get parted from the other woman.

People barely seemed to take notice of her, passing her by without even looking her way. No glares, no fear, no recognition. "I guess it could be worse," she finally said, turning her eyes ahead again, "I guess the curse keeps them from despising my existence."

For a few moments Helena wasn't saying anything, instead leading her along quietly, guiding her through the streets and pointing out street names to her. "Were you ever in town alone?"

"The king took me out of the palace with him shortly after mother died. Otherwise just once. Recently. His majesty insisted that I accompanied my stepsiblings on the ventures once. I guess the situation fell under… not going well."

The woman let out a sigh and nodded slowly. "I can only imagine. People tend to have an easier time remembering things they dislike than things they like. To better avoid situations they dislike, I guess." There was another bout of uncomfortable silence, despite the noise of the city.

For some reason Lucette wanted to add that she didn't even know  _ why _ people disliked her so much, when she had only been in town two times. Not everyone was working in the palace or knew people working there.

But did it even matter?

Lucette looked around again. She remembered how much she had disliked being in town. Now it was outright surreal. Not because she was here again. Not because no one noticed her. It was than before because the reactions of fear and anger were missing. Less real, less clear, less… memorable.

It made the other two visits even sharper in her mind.

"Oh, don't look like that," Helena chided gently, "You would be much prettier if you would stop frowning so much, you know? Come on, we're almost at the store, and there we can see if there is something that fits you better. This one is a bit short for you."

Well, that wasn't an incorrect statement. Lucette fought back the urge to glance down at the seam of the dress, which was barely reaching her knees. It was also a bit tighter than was comfortable around the chest, something she hadn't really noticed during the last days, mostly preoccupied with her own thoughts. But after walking around, it was much more noticeable, and… made her feel awkward.

The store itself wasn't big, but professional. "I work mostly on commissions and tend to have patterns ready for presentations," Helena explained, opening a cupboard and pulled a dark green dress out, frowned at it and then put it back inside. This repeated a few more times until she pulled out a dark blue dress, held it up and then nodded.

"A bit too long, but that is the smallest problem," she said, motioning the girl to come closer and holding the dress up against her body. The fabric was soft, with an even weave and colour. A bow in the same colour was abound around the waist and there was a corset like structure worked into the upper part of the dress.

It was all in all a pretty simple dress, looking more like something Emelaigne would wear than herself, outside of the darker colour. But it was also way longer than the dress she was currently wearing and she really wanted to wear something longer.

And, as it turned out, it  _ did  _ fit a lot better than the first dress. But as it was, she still needed to be patient for a bit longer, as Helena used the opportunity to show her how to shorten a skirt.

"Customers won't come that early. They either go to work at this time or do the most pressing housework. Sometimes people bring something over on the way to work, but that is really rare," the woman explained, marking down where to shorten the fabric, "So during the morning I tend to work on commissions or check on the stock. That is something where you can easily help me with."

A bit later Lucette was first parting the fabric carefully after Helena had shown her how (a lot faster, but she had pressed the point that it was a matter of practice and experience and Lucette didn't want to damage the remaining fabric), while the woman was laying out different papers and set to work on a dress already on a mannequin.

They both didn't talk during their work. Lucette hadn't talked much before and didn't plan to change that any time soon, and the work was taking up her focus as it was. It was most likely habit for Helena. The silence wasn't uncomfortable either and Lucette found herself somewhat enjoying what she was doing. There was no one bothering her and the work was something she liked, even if she wasn't sewing for her dolls, and the fabric was much better than the scraps she had used as a child.

Soon she was shown how to fold the seam around and sew it up so it wouldn't unravel.

Mood improved enough by the new dress, she let herself be ordered around to check the different fabric stocks, as a few customers came in and made small talk with Helena, some eyeing her curiously, others not even taking notice of her. There were a lot more customers than Lucette had assumed there would be, and during a small break in business, the woman sat her down near a table with a stack of clothes with 'easy jobs' and showed her how to do them properly.

It was a bit after noon when Helena closed the shop and motioned her away from her work. "Come on, I always have a small break around this time," she smiled, "The market is close by and you can look for a small lunch there."

It was a lot more crowded outside now. Lucette hated it.

Moving past stands offering different knickknacks she found herself concentrating more on dodging people and making sure to keep an eye on which way she came from. She still had the money the king had given her and she found herself frowning at the different prices, calculating how much it was in comparison to what she had.

He had been… generous.

But that was no reason to waste anything or to be rash about buying something.

In the end she ended up chewing on a small cream danish pastry from a street stand, whose smell had been too luring to resist in combination with her empty stomach.

Standing a bit away from the crowd, she ate her food and watched the crowd a bit, more bored than anything else, caught up in her own thoughts again.

How was that her life now? Spending her time working in a shop instead of her bedroom, paying attention to her dolls or in lessons with her tutors… how long would that go on? How long would it last? How long would it be until it wouldn't matter anymore who she had once been, even if people remembered her?

"Found you!" The sudden exclamation startled her out of her thoughts and she found herself looking down at a boy familiar to her, who was smiling while approaching her. It was the street performer she had seen during the town outing with her stepsiblings.

"And?" she replied, unimpressed.

"Well, I was looking for you," the boy said, "Some people were worried when we couldn't find you."

Her frown deepened. 'We'? "And who would this 'we' be? And how can you be so sure that I am who you are looking for?" she said, watching how his smile faded a bit.

"Well… I am also cursed. I am staying at an inn owned by a fairy, who tries to help people with their curses," he started explaining quickly, "and people who got cursed, fairies and witches haven't forgotten who you are."

"And I am supposed to blindly believe what you're saying," she concluded coolly. There were exceptions to the whole forgetting her thing?

Hadn't Helena mentioned another reason why she believed her story? It had never come up again after the first evening, when the woman had taken her in.

The smile faded slowly from the boy's face. "Well… I guess I can't prove it right here…" he started quietly, "But if you're willing to… follow me?"

Really? Did he really think her that stupid? "No, I won't simply follow you like that" she shot the offer down and started moving towards the crowd. If she had so much trouble keeping an eye on her surroundings there, it should be possible to lose him in there as well.

"But we were really worried! Parfait was driving herself crazy and even if Delora didn't say it-!"

She froze for the shortest moment and then levelled a death glare at the boy, who flinched at being on the receiving end of it. "Shut up!" she forced herself to not hiss at him, feeling cold fury boiling inside her, "I. Have literally no wish to be anywhere near the witch that cursed me. No reason to believe a single word of hers as truth. And not a single bit of patience left to listen to your tries to explain everything and trying to assure me that she 'didn't mean it like that'. Because from what I saw cursing me wasn't exactly an accident on her part. So, save your breath and leave. Me. Alone. And you can tell your fairy-innkeeper the same as she is collaborating with the witch in question."

Not giving him the time to reply, she slipped her way into the crowd, dodging people in the process and forcing herself to not move directly to the store, in case he  _ did _ manage to track her through the crowd a bit.

Back in the store, Helena raised a brow at her, but didn't comment on her sudden change in mood, not even asking a probing question, instead letting her work in silence as she took care of her own part of work.

The remaining day was quiet and ordinary and when they left in the evening, the streets were empty and there was no sign of the boy.

Laying in her bed in the evening, Lucette wondered why she hadn't asked Helena about the reason why the woman believed her yet. With the thoughts circling in her head, sleep was difficult to come by. And as it came, it was restless, with dreams she couldn't remember when she awoke in the morning, as Velvet and Rose pounced on her.


	3. Chapter 02 - Meeting Anew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter. It went through beta reading again and I hope the readers like it. :)  
> At the end of the chapter are pictures of Lucette and Helena created with the free game Love Nikki Dress Up Queen. They may change depending of the resources I may gain there.
> 
> Have fun. ^___^

Another week had passed by with Lucette adapting to her new routine of rising in the morning, leaving for the store and working with Helena there until the evening, before returning to the house.

There were small divergences of the routine, when Helena accompanied her during the noon break to buy food supplies every few days. One time it poured cats and dogs and no hunger could drive Lucette out of the dry store to buy food.

Thoughts were still turning and twisting in her head, now adding questions about Delora and what the woman had been thinking. She hadn't seen the boy again either, keeping an eye out for trouble was sensible there.

And despite that, she had not asked Helena about this reason, yet.

She couldn't even say why she hadn't. She wished for answers of at least a few questions bothering her and this was something where answers were in reach!

Cat curled up on her lap, Lucette glanced to Helena, who seemed to be writing a letter of some kind, calm expression on her face.

God damn it, she was the crown princess! Why the hell was she such a coward and couldn't make her voice work when she opened her mouth to ask!?

"Helena? You mentioned, there was another reason why you believed me the very first evening. What is it?" Somehow her voice was steady and calm, with no trace of how uncertain she was about asking it out loud.

And why was her voice working now?

Quill stilling, the woman paused for a moment, before looking up from the paper, eyes curious.

"What brought that one up?" She asked, getting up from the table and moving over to the second sofa in front of the fireplace.

Lucette eyed her for a moment, trying to find a good way to voice her thoughts. "I... there was someone who remembered me and tried to get me to follow him to a fairy-owned inn. He said fairies, witches and cursed were loopholes for my curse."

Helena frowned for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Yes, people having magic or being affected by it, can't be influenced by it anymore like that. And he most likely wasn't lying about Delora and the inn. It is the place where her companions stayed and as such she most likely as well," she finally said with a sigh.

"Why does a fairy tolerate a witch who cursed someone, while owning an inn to help cursed people? And why did they think I was just going to follow along to this place? That doesn't make any sense!"

There was a wry expression on Helena's face. "Oh, I am sure in their minds everything made quite some sense. But then I doubt that it ever occurred to them that you may find some other place to stay. Despite everything, me meeting you in the streets that night was quite unlikely."

"Was it really?" Lucette frowned at the woman, "Are you among the people remembering me?"

Another sigh. "Lucette, during the last few days you saw just a small part of the city. You saw a number of people visiting the plaza. What do you think, how many of the people in the capital did you see during the last weeks in comparison to how many live here? And how much of the city did you see?"

Lucette found herself looking at the cat in her lap trying to calculate the numbers and find a relation to them.

"There are multiple smaller markets and plazas all over the city," Helena continued, "Buildings are crowded in the center and further apart at the edges of the city, but they reach far. That are thousands of people living here, Lucette, each with their homes and families and most of them with working places as well. They move all over the city for their businesses as well. Even with noticing the shift of people forgetting you, the chance of finding you like that..."

"The curse transported me across the city. I could have ended up anywhere..." Lucette noted, frowning again.

"Yes. I don't know how exactly they went about looking for you, but it would have been impossible for them to cover the whole city. You went to the palace, trying to make sense of everything and maybe they had someone watching there, in case you did that, but otherwise... I guess it was luck that you ended up in a better town area, where guard presence keeps people from taking advantage of young girls like that."

Lucette fought back the flinch, trying to push her mind away from the thought of how exactly the day could have ended up even worse than just almost getting robbed by thugs after waking up cursed.

The cat on her lap was warm and grounding.

"...I apologize. That was too harsh," Helena said quietly.

"But the truth," Lucette forced herself to keep breathing. Would these men have stopped after taking the money? "He said that they were worried, because they couldn't find me. I thought, it was because I wasn't with  _ them _ , but someone else."

How much luck did she have that night?

"That may have played into it as well. There are some factions that would love getting their hands on the crown princess for different reasons. And some do have members that are fairies or witches or cursed," her host added, "From what I know the fairy believes in the goodness of people and that they'll do the right thing given the chance. Or at least strongly hopes they will."

"So she may have simply not thought of it," Lucette felt the coldness coil inside her, "Do you remember me?" Maybe a change of topic would help to drive the thoughts away.

"Yes. And no, I am not cursed. And neither I am a fairy."

Lucette blinked slowly and eyes back on the woman in front of her. Her clothing looked normal, her behaviour was... nothing pointing at what she heard anyone say about witches.

"Then why-?" she broke off, confusion throwing her thoughts awry.

"The last witch among my direct ancestors was my grandfather. I barely have any magic at all with how thinned out the blood is with me. I can barely work magic and curses are completely out of reach, even with the template imprinted on the Crystallum Tenebrarum."

The what now?

"Imprinted on the what?"

Helena raised a brow at her. "No one told you about the Crystallums and the role their bearers have, despite their heavy involvement in the Great War?"

"...No. The king only mentioned how the kingdom suffered due to the witches. This is the first time I’ve heard anything of crystals," she admitted, curiosity rearing its head.

"Fairies and witches get their powers from crystals. The Lucis for the fairies and the Tenebrarum for the witches. Each Crystallum has a bearer, directly connect to its power, a position following the bloodline. A descendant of a bearer will always have magic and be either a full-blood or a half-blood, the only difference being that half-bloods only get into their power at reaching their eighteenth birthday," the woman explained, "Due to the bearer being connected to the crystal and all magic users drawing their power from one, the bearers feel the fates of their subjects. 

“The last bearer of the Tenebrarum was driven insane by the Witch Hunts and the prior king’s unwillingness to stop them and started the Great War in her madness. Many witches were driven insane in a similar way, due to magic following the bloodlines and them feeling their families dying, following the call of war for their own brand of vengeance. 

“This was also when the Fairytale curse was created. To allow even weaker witches to cast a curse like that -which normally takes a lot of power to form- she imprinted a template on the Crystallum, allowing it to support the casting of the curse. Normally curses affecting so many people at once by making all of them forget you would be impossible to cast for a witch with an average power level. It would have been easier to simply make it impossible for them to recognize you."

Lucette nodded slowly, trying to work her way through the information provided. "The Great War ended. What happened with the bearer? Did she die?"

"It... is assumed as such and after so many years its taken as a sure thing. No one saw her die, but she also wasn't found. Fairies and witches turn to dust upon dying, so there was no body to be found, if she died. And the new bearer didn't come forward yet. Some desperate people would have searched them out, if they did."

"Despite them being a relative to the mad bearer?"

Helena was quiet for a moment. "Yes. The bearer alone can free people of their curses regardless the breaking conditions. If these are there at all. And for someone who sees no other way out or whose curse has a timer and the time is running out... Hope can be a painful thing, but just like desperation can cause you to dare to do something you normally wouldn't."

Lucette fought back the urge to grab the necklace, still with a single glass shoe on it and no idea what it meant. It was the only visible sign of her curse on her.

"Do you think the bearer will ever come forward? Or will that person prefer to stay hidden?" she asked, feeling the pendant on her skin.

"They will. It may take some time, but they will. The Tenebrarum needs a bearer and will look for one if the line dies, creating a new line in the process. There are tales that the Crystallums were lost until three centuries ago and reappeared all of a sudden with no warning. Until then fairies and witches had almost become myths. They reimbursed faded blood with new power and magic reappeared."

"...What if there is not enough time to wait for the bearer to come forward?" If Emelaigne was crowned queen by then? There was so much talk about a ball next spring for her to choose a groom...

And...

"What if the ball is after my eighteenth birthday, making me an adult and I broke my curse already at that point? The ball is supposed to be for the crown princess after all..."

The king had never even hinted about the topic to her. No one ever had. She knew these balls existed, but... she had never thought about them in connection with herself.

...Why was she even asking that? "Forget I said that."

"No, I won't. Because it as an important topic that shouldn't be brushed aside," Helena shot back coolly.

"But it is none of your business-" "Believe it or not, but I was married once," she ignored Lucette's complaint, "And while it may not be very accepted socially, you can leave a marriage that went wrong. There is no reason to make yourself miserable for your whole life. And looking at your father, remarrying also is a possibility."

Lucette frowned at the woman, anger and something suspiciously like relief rising inside her. "How old are you even that you were married, left your husband and are not scorned about it anymore?" She glared instead.

Instead of looking offended, the witch was smiling, taken the jab at what could only be lies with humour for some reason.

"Princess, another part of magic is that while you age, you stay young. Witches and fairies live longer than humans as well. I may not look the part, but I  _ am _ in my sixties. And my witch grandfather is also still around and over a century old already, looking none the worse for it the last time I saw him."

-oOo-

Lying in bed and staring at the ceiling was not helping her calm her thoughts. She had gotten cursed by a witch. Her host was a witch.

It was strange how it only now sunk in that she was alone and really thought about it.

Helena was a witch. Just like Delora, who had pretended to be a doll for six months before cursing her.

Why? Why wait that long? She just couldn't figure it out!

Why had Delora cursed her, just to have people looking for her? Why was the fairy she was staying with allowing it?

Where would she be, if Helena hadn't found her? At the inn, stuck to stay where that witch was? What would she be doing there? Would the fairy even let her stay there? She had gotten some money from her father, but even so it wouldn't have lasted forever.

What would she have done then?

Delora had been with her for six months. Could the fairy not have known where she went? But what if yes? But why had they been looking for her then?

Nothing made sense. What did they have to gain from cursing her? Did they also want Emelaigne on the throne instead of her? Maybe the fairy had simply disagreed with the consequences of leaving her on the streets after the curse was cast.

Would she know anything new about the curse by now, if she had been staying at this inn?

Would they have even found her to invite her into the inn? How many people had been looking where? How many remembered? How many told others, who couldn't remember? How many remembered and didn't care, preferring Emelaigne on the throne?

Some questions answered, more questions opening up.

Unable to sleep, Lucette got back and moved over to the window to look outside. She couldn't see much in the darkness of the night, but still a bit.

Autumn had arrived late, but within days everything had turned brown, red and gold, where it had been green before and trees and bushes had rapidly lost their leaves.

As it was, she could only see the bare branches exposed to the moonlight peeking through the clouds, looking like skeletal fingers, moving slightly, most likely due to some breeze.

Was there anything she could do to change her situation? She didn't want to search out Delora to ask about her curse. While Helena had admitted that Waltz may have said the truth, she still didn't want to search out the witch. What would happen, if they insisted that she moved into this inn? Helena had admitted that her magical powers were almost non-existent, making her already weaker than Delora and who knew who else lived in this inn.

Was her staying with Helena a risk? Most likely if there were people looking for her…

It had been easy to lose this boy, but she doubted that children would be the only ones looking for her… but was there even a way to keep them from recognizing her? What could she even do to keep them away? Fighting was a no-go; the guards would take her in faster than she could explain. If they believed her in the first place.

Pondering that thought, she started into the dark and how her face weakly reflected in the window glass. Hair, skin and eyes light and almost glowing in the dark.

Frowning, she tilted her head a bit, the first thoughts of a plan taking shape in her mind. …hadn't she seen something on the market recently?

Pondering the possibility, she went back to bed and fell asleep a bit later.

The next day she walked over the market until she found that one specific stall and started asking the woman manning it questions until she felt she knew enough about the topic and made the necessary purchases.

-oOo-

"Lucette, did you try to make tea or what is... smelling so... strongly..." Lucette looked up from where she was dangling a feather bundle in front of the cats as she heard Helena's voice.

"Good morning," she greeted the other woman, taking in the dumbfounded look on the other's face with satisfaction, "I wasn't sure how safe it was for me to freely walk around after our talk about how many people should remember me despite the curse and decided to make it a bit harder for them to recognize me."

"It's... definitely nothing they'll expect," the woman got out, nodding slowly, "Black hair is also a lot more common than red, I admit. Less eye-catching than well."

Lucette blinked down at the now dark strands of her hair. She still expected to see red at the edge of her vision.

"I guess," she only answered only. It had thrown her off as well when she had looked into the mirror the first time after dyeing it. She had suddenly looked like her father instead of her mother. "I forgot to ask, do you have a hairband, I could use?"

"Your hairstyle is also distinct, you know," Helena commented dryly, having caught herself and Lucette grimaced. She had wanted to at least gain some normality back. But the woman was right...

"I have a few things left over," the older woman said, "Sit down at the kitchen table. I'd like to try something out."

"Aren't we going to end up late?" Lucette asked frowning, but sat down.

"Don't worry about that one, dear," Helena waved off, "My mother showed me some styles once, but I never had a daughter to show them to."

Before Lucette could react, she felt her hair getting collected at the back of her head and a brush going through the strands. Eyes widening at the familiar feeling, she felt her body go still in response.

Her mother had done her hair all the time when she had been a child and even later she had still done it on occasion.

After she had died, Lucette had always done her hair herself.

Forcing the waves of sadness down and pushing away the longing for her mother, she almost missed the feeling of tugs on her hair change.

A few minutes later the tugging stopped. "There, all done," Helena somehow sounded sad and happy at the same time, "Come, take a look at it."

Curious about the result, she moved over to the mirror and looked into it. She looked...

She had almost said that she looked like Ophelia, but that wasn't the case. Her stepmother had her hair twisted together in braids at the upper back of her head, strands framing her face.

Lucette's hair was collected at the back of her head as well, but lower and in a bun, which was circled by a single thick braid, front bangs cleanly combed sideways and held in place by a hair pin.

"It looks... well," she got out, twisting her head a bit, to get a better look at it. No strand had escaped the woman's hands. How did you react to something like that? "Thank you."

There was a soft smile on the witch's face. "No problem. I can show you in the evening, how to do it yourself. But now we need to get going."

Something strange seemed to have been triggered in Helena. Lucette found the other woman watching her a few times during the day, looking wistful and sad.

But she had no idea what it could be about her hair that it had triggered this kind of reaction.

Helena had said that she never had a daughter. But she had also been married at some point and left her marriage behind. And married couples tended to get children early, because descendants were responsible for taking care of their parents as they got older.

The question was already on her tongue, but she stopped herself. That was none of her business. She hated people being noisy like that. She would not be the same.

Instead of asking, she bit her tongue and swallowed the words down, concentrating on stitching together the fabric flower she was making from yellow puffy scraps.

She had made them with leftover fabric all the time as a child, but she had only softer fabric back then. The sturdier fabric was perfect for it.

When Helena came looking at what she was doing and found the blossoms, her eyes widened in surprise, then delight, promptly putting a few of them into the shop windows and attaching a small bundle of them to a hair band also in the window.

Lucette couldn't fight down the warm feeling of pride surging through her.

She didn't want to either.

-oOo-

"Aw! These are so cute!"

Lucette's head snapped up when she heard a voice that was far too familiar for her taste.

Standing in front of the store window and eyeing the fabric flowers adorning a hairband was her stepsister Emelaigne, eyes bright and focused on the blossoms.

The door closed behind the leaving customer, cutting her off from hearing what was being said. Eyeing the blond girl, it was easy to predict what was going to happen.

...if she ever got her hands on this witch, she would make that woman regret making her go through these things.

Helena threw her a look and a calming smile, but didn't get around to say something, as Emelaigne was already walking through the door, Rod in tow. Lucette glanced around quickly and when he looked away from her, she wrapped a thin scarf around her neck.

"Your highnesses, what an honor!" Helena greeted the two with a smile, "How may I be of service?"

Lucette forced herself to concentrate on her work and tried to keep her face impassive and her teeth from grinding. No one remembered her. At the moment she was a peasant girl. She would show the proper respect, as she had to her father for the last few years.

Emelaigne was talking enthusiastically, but it was only background noise.

Deep breaths. They wouldn't stay here forever. She wouldn't cause a scene. She could do that. She wouldn't risk Helena's reputation.

"Lucette, could you come over here for a moment?" Helena called out and Lucette only paused long enough to put the fabric she had been working on down, barely enough time to take a deep breath.

"Princess Emelaigne, Prince Rod," she greeted them, voice even and polite, doing a proper curtsy and then turning to Helena, "Yes?"

"The princess is interested in the flowers as decorations on a dress. How small can you make them?" the witch asked and Lucette frowned for a moment, running a few calculations in her head.

"With thin fabric and thread a flower could be the size of a cherry. Maybe a bit smaller, but not much," she answered after a moment, "But then they may be too fragile to be worn."

Emelaigne was quiet for a moment, thinking that over. Rod wasn't looking at his sister but her for some reason, brows furrowed.

"That is small enough!" the blond girl exclaimed, smiling broadly, "Could you make enough to line the neckline of a dress? And the seams?"

Helena shooed her back to work to talk business and Lucette took the escape gratefully, bidding the royals goodbye and retreating away from them.

Once back at work, breathing was easier and soon enough her stepsiblings were out of the door.

"Alright, I didn't expect that," Helena admitted apologetic, "My compliments and thanks for behaving. Your disguise seems to work pretty well. Prince Rod was at least unsure about you."

"Rod remembers?" she asked surprised, there was no magic in her step family, so- "He is cursed?"

"I get the feeling you weren't told many things... Yes, he got cursed by someone. But while he seemed surprised upon me using your name, your behaviour threw him off as well." Helena nodded, "Maybe also due to not seeing the necklace. The inn is the place where he got his speaking toy."

"So he may know what to look out for," Lucette agreed, relieved to have thought of hiding the necklace under the scarf.

"Well, as it is, it seems you'll be busy making tiny flowers for now," the witch said suddenly, "A royal order is nothing to neglect."

"...How many flowers are we talking about?" For some reason, she was dreading the answer.

"I'll give you a band to attach them to. The whole band should be tightly covered with them on one side. The princess told me the colour scheme as well."

Lucette had the distinct feeling she was going to get much practice in making the blossoms.

-oOo-

Cursed for almost a month and she was going to re-enter the palace. Just not with her curse broken.

And she had finally finished the stupid band as well. Which was the reason why she was approaching the palace. Due to Emelaigne failing to mention a pick-up date, it was getting delivered, together with the slip of paper with the price they had agreed on and her signature.

Bag in one hand, she glanced around the street. Knights stood guard and kept a look at the people getting close to the palace. Expensively dressed people hurried past, some of them she knew from sight from before getting cursed, indicating that they had business in the palace as well.

She almost stuck out with her simpler dress.

She hated it.

Grip on the bag she was holding tightening, she kept walking until she reached the palace gates.

"Your business?" a knight asked, giving her a look over with a raised brow.

"The princess placed an order at our store a few days ago. I am here to deliver it," she said calmly, pushing down the urge to glare at him for the way he looked at her and showed the slip with the signature.

The man let out a sigh and let her pass, mumbling something, she couldn't understand.

It didn't take long for her to reach the entrance area, where people were mingling around, like always, carrying messages and quite a few boxes with supplies. 

She had almost forgotten that preparations for the ball were being made and every store holding some kind of reputation was sending samples of any kind hoping for an order and the resulting rising popularity.

Should she just ask a maid were to bring the order? Something like that was nothing to bother the royals with directly...

White hair at the edge of her vision and she quickly turned away, before she could get a closer look at Fritz standing guard with a few other knights.

Right. Not that way. Definitely not that way. She wasn't sure if she could keep it together, if she spoke to him. It would at least be much more difficult than with Rod and Emelaigne.

She looked around and after a moment took a deep breath and approached two maids whispering to each other (Why weren't they working!?).

Biting her tongue to keep the wrong words in, she started talking. "Excuse me, I have an order of the princess. Do you know where I should bring it?"

"Oh, really? What is it?" one of the women asked curiously.

"Decorative linings for a dress," she answered calmly, forcing the urge to glare down. She just wanted to get over with it!

"Oh, can we see?" the second maid threw in eagerly. Counting down internally to fight down her frustration, Lucette opened the bag to show the band with flowers.

"The palace tailor may where you need to go," the first maid said eyeing the band with some envy. And then started to describe the way.

Initially she had just wanted to leave. Pity, she had no excuse to already know her way around the palace. So she waited until the woman stopped speaking, nodded her thanks and left.

The right door was found after a bit and she knocked, the elderly tailor opening her. "Yes?" he asked, frowning at her.

"The princess made an order at the store I am working in a few days ago-" she started to explain, but was interrupted.

"It's finished? Can I see? Your name was Lucy, wasn't it?" Emelaigne suddenly appeared behind the man, looking as chipper and eager as ever.

"...close. It's Lucette," she got out. She opened the bag to again show the band with the flowers.

Emelaigne squealed.

The tailor took it to inspect it curiously, nodding to himself all the while and then walked over to a dress, to start holding it into place.

"Oh, you still need the payment, don't you?" Emelaigne exclaimed suddenly, "I'll need to tell mother to get the money! Just come with me!"

No, she really didn't like how this way was going. It made her wonder why exactly Helena wasn't doing the delivery, outside of her manning the store being vital to her business.

Letting out a sigh, she followed the blond girl, forcing herself to listen to the chatter the princess produced without a pause, providing short answers when asked a question.

To her chagrin, her stepmother wasn't alone in the salon she was in. Her father was sitting beside her talking with her about something.

"Mother, father!" Emelaigne greeted them happily, the moment she stepped into the room.

"Emelaigne, is the dress fitting already over?" Ophelia asked surprised, before noticing Lucette, "Who is your companion?"

"Your majesty, your highness," Lucette greeted the two royals, at being noticed. She just needed to keep her temper. Manners weren't a problem, she was well trained and she had been formal with the king for years already.

"Oh, that's Lucette, she is from the shop I told you about!" A dazzling smile. "The one with the flowers! The order finished!"

Emelaigne rushed into a description of the flowers and how they were going to be put onto the dress as Lucette handed the slip of paper to a servant, who then left to get the payment.

As Emelaigne kept talking on, Lucette glanced around. Trying to figure out if anything had changed after her leave. But she couldn't say. She had been very rarely in this room. And for some reason the king was giving her a very strange look.

She chose to not make a scene and tried not to look at him. The payment arriving was a relief.

Politely she bid the royals goodbye, Emelaigne looking strangely disappointed about it, turned to the door and promptly walked into someone while stepping through the door.

Papers went flying as she was sent to the floor, the other person getting sent into the doorframe from the sound of the impact and the resulting curse.

"Are you alright, Mythros?" Emelaigne was promptly there.

"Yes, yes," the man waved off, already starting to recollect his papers.

"And you, Lucette?" The blond girl was sounding genuinely worried about someone she barely knew.

"Yes. Nothing happened," she replied, already back on her feet and having taken the bag back up, turning around to the advisor, inwardly chanting about her manners and questioning why this was happening to her, "I apologize for walking into you like that, Sir."

If she hadn't been turned to him, hadn't been looking at him, she wouldn't have seen it. For one moment, the man seemed utterly surprised, frozen in his movement, almost dumbfounded, then crossing into confusion and took just a bit too long to answer.

"It's... alright..." the man blinked a few times as if just noticing her for the first time.

She curtseyed and got as fast as was still polite out of the room and then the palace.

* * *

This is Helena in her normal appearance

This is Lucette after dyeing her hair and the hairstyle Helena made her.


	4. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, have a small Interlude.^^  
> Not as long as a chapter, but written from the POV of different characters to provided some insight about how the other characters are doing.
> 
> I hope you'll like it.  
> Enjoy~!

This had been an interesting day. Thinking back to the delivery girl still brought the same amusement the king had felt when he saw his normally suave advisor off his game.

It had definitely been a surprise, but she  _ had _ been quite pretty. Well mannered as well, which was quite surprising for a delivery girl; even with her being to the colder side of the spectrum.

Alcaster was worse in regards to his manners, which sometimes caused trouble with the more formal nobles that insist on being addressed properly.

Thinking about it, Emelaigne was also lagging behind with her protocol lessons... It was refreshing to have a free spirit around, but many events were built on protocol and formal rules, ones she should at least know and recognize.

But it didn't change the fact that Mythros’ reaction had been surprising, as was his careful probing about the girl after she had left. Though Genaro doubted that his daughter had noticed when Mythros turned to her upon learning that Lucette was an acquaintance of hers. The girl had either been oblivious of the reaction she had caused or simply not cared.

Thinking about it, this had been the first time Mythros ever showed any interest in anyone on more than a business level since Genaro knew him. He had deflected any kind of question regarding the topic as well when Genaro had been in a bit of a romantic state after finding Ophelia again.

Thinking of it, Mythros had never even mentioned a family at all, not even his parents. But after Hildyr's reign, who knew what may have happened...

There was a reason why no one actively objected when Genaro had chosen the young man as his advisor; There simply hadn't been many options and he was one of the best, still having not disappointed yet.

Well, Mythros was already older than he himself had been when he’d gotten married the first time around, even if it wasn’t to the woman of his choice... Who was he to stop the younger man from pursuing someone, now that he had found his luck with Ophelia; even if it was years later?

Was there perhaps a way to… encourage the matter? Emelaigne was taking quite well to the girl and might pick up social cues better if there was someone to show it or set an example in a real situation instead of only during tutored lessons…

It was something to think about, at least.

-oOo-

The way to the Marchen seemed to last strangely longer than normal. Rod was already unhappy with how long dinner had taken this evening, but Emelaigne had seemed so happy about making another friend that he hadn't been able to bring himself to put an end to her chattering. She had been so miserable lately from the approaching ball and increasing lessons to how her freedom was being cut short piece by piece that he had began to ponder if things might’ve been better if Lucette hadn't disappeared.

Sure, the king was happier than he had ever seen before and the general mood in the palace had also highly increased, but every time Rod saw his sister staring into thin air, looking miserable when she thought no one was noticing, caused guilt and hate for himself to burn inside him.

His mother was happy now, but she had also been happy before. He was cursed and fated to die, simply because he hadn't been able to tell Viorica the truth. And due to his actions Emelaigne was miserable now as well. He had turned them all into members of the royal family; Just like everyone else in the city, he had only seen how the royals appeared to the public and not what their lives entailed.

He hated how nobles whispered about his mother and sister just because they weren't typical for royalty. He hated how his sister smiled while being miserable, while weathering the lessons and responsibilities. And he hated himself the most for being unable to do anything about it.

At least not by himself.

He knew Delora had cursed his stepsister and at the beginning had felt some kind of grim satisfaction about it. She deserved to be put down a few steps. His stepfather had never been happier; lines of worry on his face had disappeared into nothing. His mother was no longer colliding with the ice walls his step-sister held up and Emelaigne no longer looked dejected about being unable to befriend her.

And then everything started to pile onto Emelaigne. All the expectations of the crown princess, all the lessons she had previously been able to avoid, all the eyes suddenly on her as the heir to a kingdom. It had turned her miserable in short order, even with her unwillingness to show it.

It was slowly driving him to the point where he wished Lucette was still there to take the pressure on herself once more; Away from Emelaigne.

But all the time he hadn't seen a hint of Lucette in the Marchen. He hadn't even heard a whisper of her anywhere until Emelaigne pulled him along into the small shop. Rod hadn't wanted to believe his ears when the seamstress had called out that name and couldn't believe his eyes at seeing the girl before him.

The black hair was foreign and the polite, but cool behaviour unsettling. If she hadn't said anything, he may have brushed it off, but the voice had still been the same, unchanged from before.

And after days of pondering, thinking and strolling through the city Emelaigne had decided to chatter his ear off about her newest friend. One who was surely just shy about being around the king and the embarrassing situation with Sir Mythros, which was the reason why she had fled so fast that day.

He had only seen her once, so Rod wasn't so sure if she really was his stepsister. And voices could be similar and she hadn't sounded  _ quite _ like Lucette. But that may have simply been because missing the intentionally cold tone in her voice. It was still something that may be important to Parfait, who had looked more stressed and worn out during the last weeks than he had ever seen her before. And with Delora being the one to do the cursing...

Rod took a deep breath and entered the Marchen, hoping to find someone up, despite the late time.

-oOo-

Waltz stared at the rising sun through a window, feeling tired enough to fall asleep where he sat, before looking back to Delora, having just told her what Rod had reported.

"So... the princess was taken in by a... seamstress?" Delora asked, sounding just as disbelieving as she looked.

Waltz had been wrecked by guilt and other ugly feelings from the time Lucette had gotten cursed up to him finding her in town, seeming healthy and well. After the disastrous meeting, he had felt less worried and more miserable, wrecking his head for answers to how it could have gone differently if he had acted otherwise. Said something different. Hadn't mentioned Delora.

"Is it that surprising? She taught me how to sew after all," He answered the other witch, "Rod also mentioned that she dyed her hair black, which may be why we couldn't pick her out from the crowd when searching in the following days."

"If she even went to the same market during these days, since she clearly wants to avoid us," The woman threw in, "As blunt as the princess is and while oblivious to the efforts of those genuinely nice to her -outside of her knight- she isn't stupid."

Also true. But god damn it, this wasn't _fair!_ He had sacrificed so much for her, had fought _Hildyr_ for her, and now-!

Why was he even angry? She couldn't even remember him... Couldn't remember how happy she once was, playing with him. How happy he was to have a friend like that among the people in the palace.

And now she didn't even trust him. Didn't believe a single word he was saying, simply because he had mentioned Delora. Waltz wasn't angry at the other witch, but thinking it through -having had the time of thinking it through- he couldn't be angry at his Little Star either.

It had never been safe to trust in the court Hildyr had created.

"Rod mentioned where the store is as well. His sister was quite taken with her new acquaintance, so she might visit again. It's a bit further from the main plaza, but not by much," The boy finally said, "Do you know anything about it? It's called 'Silver Thread'."

"No. But Karma may; You know what he’s like. And he might be one of the few people here who the princess doesn't know yet to avoid, or his connection to us." Delora finally sighed, "Can you tell him to do a small investigation there when he’s back from patrol? I'll tell Parfait what happened, as soon as she is awake."

Waltz nodded. Parfait needed the rest and was steadily looking better since Rumpel had moved into the inn. Having the doctor around was convenient, despite his heavy flirting and clashes with Karma.

He could only pray that the princess was safe, wherever she was. It’s roughly been a month since she had gotten cursed.

Letting out a tired sigh himself, Waltz looked out of the window once more, blinking slowly in surprise at the flakes of white that had started to fall from the sky.

At the end of November the first snow of the year had arrived.


	5. Chapter 03 - Talks and another Meeting

There were patches of white on the streets outside the store, more flakes steadily falling from the sky. Lucette watched the steadily falling flakes in a strange, tranquil mood, taking a short break from work.

The weather had gotten colder during the last few days and while the snow had at first melted during the day after falling in the night, now it had started to fall during the day as well. Most of the snow was still melting, but small patches of white had started to stay.

"Everything alright?" Helena's voice startled her out of her trance and she almost jerked around in surprise. Blinking the confusion away, she turned to look at the woman. "You were looking outside for a few minutes now, not moving at all."

Blinking again, she slowly shook her head. "No, it's nothing," she waved off, turning back to her current work. She had gotten fast enough with mending and buttons that Helena had given her a quota. If she met it, she would get money for herself for all the easy orders she completed after meeting it.

Which meant an allowance so to speak, she could spend how she wanted. And with the weather getting colder, there were a few things she had her eyes on.

The bell of the store chiming, caught her attention and she looked up. A beautiful woman had just entered the store. The woman, she had seen before weeks ago in the toy store.

Clothed in red and yellow she was striking, just like she had been back then.

"Welcome," Helena smiled, "How may I help you?"

Letting Helena take care of that, Lucette turned back to her work, trying to not get lost in her own thoughts again. It had been just a few days since she had been in the palace, but she still couldn't forget how... happy her father had looked.

Was he really so much happier with her gone? Was that what the curse was supposed to show her? How things were without her?

But what had that to do with Cinderella, if this really was a fairy tale curse? But then she still only knew about this necklace regarding her curse and how people had forgotten her. She wanted-  _ needed _ to know more about her curse, but she also didn't want to face Delora and whoever sided with her, especially when it may risk her disguise, flimsy as it was.

Letting out a sigh, she forced herself, yet again, to focus on her work. A few days since seeing her father again and she still hadn't figured out what to do. How was she even supposed to deal with her curse, if she didn't know anything about it!?

The bell chimed again and she was about to stay focused on her work when- "Good morning!"

The familiar voice made her jerk up and she blinked in confusion at Emelaigne, who was walking into the store, looking chipper as ever. Oh god, why couldn't the world give her pause already?

"Good morning, princess," Helena greeted the girl, smiling back, "How may I help?" "Well, the flowers look really pretty on the dress and I wanted to ask, if I can have some bigger ones! Winter is coming now and flower won't bloom anymore soon, but I would really love to have some bouquets around!"

She was cursed on more levels than with just a stupid necklace and the population's memory problems, wasn't she? Maybe Emelaigne would overlook her- "Good morning, Lucette!" -or not. Putting her things down, she turned to the princess. "Good morning, princess," she greeted the other girl, relieved that at least Rod wasn't around as well.

"The flowers you made a really pretty! Mother thinks so as well. In what kind of colours can you make the flowers?" The girl didn't lose any time and was next to Lucette the next moment. "In whatever colour I have fabric in," she answered, "Can I guess that there would be less flowers than for the dress?"

"Yes. If I got that many flower bouquets, I wouldn't know where to put them. Can you make some in pink? And red? And white?------- And did you know that Sir Mythros asked about you after you left? Father said that was the first time he had ever seen the man lose his composure. You must have really surprised him when you ran into him," the girl chattered along and Lucette felt her facial expression freeze. Behind Emelaigne she could see Helena raise a brow at them.

"Oh, really?" the woman asked wryly, "You didn't mention anything about that at all, Lucette." 

"I crashed into Mythros while leaving the room. He was right behind the door when I opened it, nothing else." Lucette managed to keep her voice even during her answer.

"And his papers went everywhere and he wasn't even angry! And after you were gone, he was really curious about you and asked questions about who you were!"

With every word Helena's brows seemed to rise higher and Lucette wished that the girl would simply stop talking. "How many flowers do you want exactly and which size?" she threw in and the girl went from gossiping to gushing over flowers and asking about which sizes were possible.

When Emelaigne finally left some time later -this time also leaving a collection date of the ware at least-, Lucette let out a sigh, leaning back in her seat. And found herself facing Helena, who was looking at her with a raised brow again. "Found an admirer already, hm?" the woman smiled, turning back to the dress she was working out to straighten out the fabric.

Letting out an undignified sound, Lucette turned away from her, glaring at the work in front of her, ignoring Helena's quiet laughter.

"Don't be like that, Lucette," the woman smiled, "Cursed or not, you  _ are _ a pretty young girl, who is not hiding that she is pretty, either. And while your prior reputation may have kept possible admirers at bay, they don't remember it now. Did you not notice a few men on the market throwing you looks? I noticed a few, when I was out with you."

Helena's laughter spilled out, loud and delighted at the horrified look Lucette threw her.

Trying to forget what she had just learned, Lucette went back to work.

-oOo-

The bouquet was bright and colourful. Putting it in front of the window, with the dark yellow, brown and patches of white in the background made it practically glow in contrast, with the clouds covering the sky and turning everything dark and shadowed.

It was definitely pretty to look at, blossoms big and tightly sewn together, leaving no gap for stems to be visible.

And Emelaigne was so much gushing over it without pause that it was difficult for Lucette to keep from rolling her eyes and comment about it. They were bundles of sewn together fabric for god's sake!

Lucette wished, Emelaigne would leave. And take Fritz waiting in front of the store with her, so Lucette wouldn't be reminded of the fact, how even the only person she could stand while living in the palace, wasn't remembering her anymore either.

And then finally: "Goodbye, Lucette! Helena!" The blond girl sounded way too happy as was normal for her. Already taking a deep breath of relief, she ended up coughing when there was an added: "Hope to see you soon!"

Then the door was closed and the store quiet.

Forgoing manners for a moment, Lucette buried her face in her hands and when she looked back up, Helena was looking at her, brow raised.

"Why me? There are dozens of people clamouring for her favour, being all nice and friendly and properly gracefully behaved! I'm not even  _ nice _ to her! Why the hell does she always get into her head that she needs  _ me _ to be her friend!?"

"I assume she did the same thing before the curse?" the witch asked quietly and Lucette nodded, saying nothing else.

The silence settling between them was... heavy somehow, only broken by rustling fabric and the slight noise coming from the streets.

Lucette stepped up to the window and watched as her stepsister disappeared into the crowd, people greeting her enthusiastically and proffering their wares.

She almost flinched when Helena stepped up next to her. "They all look very happy to see her," she noted, "Eager to be seen by the crown princess and being acknowledged. Nothing to fear outside of... upsetting her."

Lucette blinked in surprise. "What has that to do with everything?"

Helena sighed. "Lucette, for the last year she was the contrast to you. Open, friendly, approachable. She  _ wants _ to be everyone's friend and people like that, if only because it makes it easier to gain her favour and support. I doubt that there were many people around her that were willing to tell her their own honest opinions, jeopardizing this connection and support."

Lucette frowned, remembering the political functions she had attended in the palace, where people had been... careful about approaching her, but had still done so, coating their words and suggestions in honey.

Mother would have been disappointed if she fell that easily for these traps. She had let them strangle themselves in their nets and then send notes about these people to her father. There tended to be reasons why they approached  _ her _ with these suggestions and not the reigning monarch.

No one had ever approached her for who she was.

Cowards.

"I'm not looking for her favor. I never did," she finally said coolly.

"Yes. You don't clamour around her. You don't coat your words. You don't make your opinion fit hers or make it appear that way. Outside off applying proper manners, you  _ don't care _ who she is," the woman smiled, "I would say that she is taking comfort from the fact that there are still people like you around for her after she became a princess. Her new status may have cut many of her connections and friendships. For many people wouldn't dare to approach a princess, like they did the daughter of a baker, who is of the same standing as them."

Lucette didn't say anything and simply stared into the crowd, which had swallowed the blond girl.

Another sigh. "Take your break, Lucette. And please think about that. You aren't anyone she knows currently. What can she hope to gain by befriending you?"

"Outside of a free supply of fabric flowers?" Lucette couldn't hold back the reply, raising a brow at the woman. But then, Emelaigne had still paid the girl at the toy shop, despite claiming to be her friend.

"Friendship, girl, does not translate to taking advantage of her person and that person letting you. It's about having someone to talk to, who you can tell you the truth without repercussion or judging and getting an honest opinion back, maybe even advise. You can have many acquaintances you may enjoy spending time with, but friends who genuinely know you and will have your back, willing to call you out on acting stupid with no fear of consequence? Those are rare and very precious," Helena gave her a strict look, "I know that your mother taught you very thoroughly, but it would have done you some good to get taught some things about socializing outside of court."

For a short moment rage flared up inside her. How did this woman  _ dare-? _

But there was no outlet and Helena had already retreated behind a shelf, out of sight and reach for a fight, leaving no target for the tantrum she  _ wanted _ to throw at someone disrespecting her mother like that.

She was dead and  _ how did that woman dare to say these things? _

Nails digging into the palm of her hand she took her break and stormed out of the door, fury clawing its way through her insides.

_ How could she  _ **_presumme she had the right_ ** _? _

Maybe a quarter of an hour later she was at the edge of the area she could safely navigate and orientate herself in, sitting on a crate and still fuming, but not as strongly anymore.

She was still angry. No one should dare to speak about her mother like that.  _ No one! _

"Princess?" The voice was painfully familiar. Especially, because she hadn't expected it. It was also sudden enough to startle her out of her simmering fury.

Turning around she found herself looking at Fritz, his eyes wide, but almost painfully hopeful.

She could deny it, enforcing her disguise, but... He had been loyal to her for years, even when her own father had still ignored her, when no one had,wanted to be around her, the courtiers taking note of the apparent disfavour to not bother approaching her. But still...

"You remember me?" Was the only thing getting out of her mouth instead.

How could this be? He wasn't a witch or a fairy! There was no way that he could remember her, but there he was, eyes lighting up at her question and quickly walking closer.

"Of course, I can! I was so worried when I woke up and no one could remember you! There wasn't a hint of where you went either! Princess, what happened!? I was sick with worry." Fritz stopped in front of her, quickly looking her over, "I was so surprised to see you in that store! I was looking for you every free minute! I am very happy you're alright. ...Are you?"

A feeling of fondness smothered the fury. Letting out a sigh, she nodded. "It's... It's nothing. Just a disagreement. But do you know why you still remember me, when no one else does outside of the reasons I know of?"

"There are people still remembering you? Why didn't they-?"Fritz stopped herself, face hardening with worry again, "Princess, what happened?"

"I got cursed, Fritz," she replied evenly. It was a fact she had come to accept during these last weeks. There was no way to deny it after all. "I got cursed and woke up alone in the city. The seamstress of the shop took me in. Now it's your turn. How do you remember me? From my knowledge, only fairies and witches remember me."

"But- But I am neither, princess!" the knight promptly protested vehemently, "I would know!" Lucette looked him over, taking in his desperate expression, his hand tightening on the sword hilt.

"The only other option I would know off would be being cursed as well. Which, while also unlikely, may also be possible to be unaware of," she said, voice calm, "These are the only options I know off."

Fritz looked utterly shocked for a moment, before his face settled in a determined expression. "A curse will not keep me from keeping you safe!" He declared firmly.

"Can you even say what your curse  _ does?  _ What its effects are?" she replied back sharply and felt a slight of guilt at how he recoiled as if struck. But she was the crown princess, people remembering her or not. Not addressing the issue would put them at a disadvantage.

"But- I could never-!" 

"I know," she interrupted him, "But the curse may not give you a choice. You're in the palace daily and then receive a curse you can't even remember receiving? No one would have noticed, if  _ I _ hadn't gotten cursed!"

Her knight went pale and swallowed dryly, before trying to find his voice again. "How can I still help you, then? I swore..."

He looked miserable. Biting her tongue, Lucette remembered how she had woken up, everything taken away from her. He had said that he had been looking for her, to keep her safe. For the last three years that had been his main task. And she had just told him that he couldn't. That he was a risk to that safety.

"Don't tell anyone that you found me," she finally said, "Pretend to keep looking, that you didn't find me. I am a girl working at a store the currently only princess is fond of. She indicated that she wanted to visit again, so checking in on me shouldn't be a problem. I have breaks during noon as well, when I'll be at the market."

"Yes..." The young man straightened back up, looking much more confident with a set task in mind. "Yes, I can do that! And I'll figure out, what this curse is and who cast it."

Then he stilled, looking at her again. "You'll be alright, where you're staying? I could look into finding another place for you to stay."

For a moment Lucette stilled, thinking about Helena and the shelter she had offered. The talks, the cat cuddles and the reason why she had stormed off.

"I will be alright where I am," she finally said. It was a disagreement. And while she would like to stay with Fritz... They didn't know what the curse did. And if the witch, who casted it, was still around, nothing was sure

Weighing the risks against each other and looking at it, it may be better if people didn't know where exactly she was staying.

It hurt that she needed to count Fritz among these people.

Fritz nodded slowly, giving her a sad look. "I won't disappoint you, princess," he said.

For a breath, she pondered her decision, then- "Call me by my name. We're trying to hide who I am. Use my name," she said, adding the last part, as he opened his mouth as if to protest.

Staring her dumbly for a moment, Fritz broke out into a beaming smile.

She looked after him, when he left, duty calling him again. Then she glanced up to the sky. The sun had moved quite a bit, she should go back to the store, but...

She didn't want to. She remembered the few times her mother had been angry at her, cutting cold words and icy glares.

She didn't want to see what a witch would be like in a bad mood. Maybe, if she had some more time to calm down as well. And she wasn't planning to make it a habit either...

Pondering what to do exactly Lucette only noticed how much had time passed when the sun was setting and it started snowing again.

Uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, she made her way back to the store.

-oOo-

The streets were already almost empty when she reached the store, flakes falling heavier and starting to stay instead of melting.

The cold was slowly crawling into her body and Lucette rubbed her hands over them subconsciously. As nice as the dress was, it also didn't have any sleeves and after being outside for almost the whole afternoon it was starting to become quite noticeable, with the sun completely gone as well. She needed to get a coat or something similar.

Behind the window of the store was still some light and when she opened the door, Helena was beyond the counter, papers in front of her. The woman looked up when the door opened, something in her face changing when she laid eyes on the girl.

"Calmed down, I assume?" the woman noted calmly, looking her over for a moment and Lucette found herself nodding in surprise. That... was it? No lecture? No shouting? No cutting remarks?

"Don't look that surprised, girl," Helena sighted, "Truthfully, from the tales I heard from the palace, I had expected worse than just a storming off and staying away until calmed down. And sooner as well. And louder. You wouldn't believe the screeching and screaming brats I already had to deal with during the years."

"I didn't scream at someone since I was a child," Lucette said, offended, "Mother didn't tolerate that kind of behavior."

"If course she didn't," Helena murmured quietly and put the papers down, "As it is, there were worse ways to go about it. Better ones as well, but it was definitely not the catastrophic tantrum I expected from the rumours."

"Oh, and what did you expect?" Lucette bit put, anger rising again, "More shouting?"

"Yes," the woman agreed, "More shouting, stuff thrown and broken things. If I would need to rate your behavior in comparison to some other nobles I saw during the years, you aren't even among the worst."

Lucette was... surprised and unsure what to say to that. People had always complained about her behavior. Not the tutors, she had always known her manners, but guests had never liked being around her and the maids always took offense, when she called them out on not working.

A morbid curiosity rose inside her. "What is the worst you dealt with?" she wanted to know and Helena smirked, getting up from the counter.

"There was a girl once, a bit younger than you, screeching her lungs out about me daring to charge her money for my service. And one time there was a woman complaining about the colour of a fabric of an order not even hers and demanding of me to throw it out. And a ten year old wanted a specific dress right now, then and there, no matter the availability of the supplies and the time needed to sew it," the witch recalled, "But we really should get home. I can tell you more there."

Home... It was strange to apply that label to any place outside the palace.

Lucette took out the necklace and held it in front of her face. The lone shoe seemed to taunt her. When could she go back? Helena had said, she  _ would _ at some point, but how could she be so  _ sure? _

"Are you coming?" Helena was looking at her, brows raised. Nodding, she followed.

It was late in the evening, when Lucette went up the stairs and Helena called out to her, making her stop and turn back.

"About today, princess," Helena started, eyes unyielding, "People have the right to critique other, even the dead, but-" she cut in, before Lucette could say anything, "-but you also have the right to be angry about what is being said. She still was your mother and losing relatives you're close to is never easy. I did not mean it as an insult to you."

-oOo-

It was another day she was spending in the shop, but this time with a project of her own.

She wasn't good enough at sewing coats or anything like that, but Helena had shown her different things she could make that could also keep her warm with the weather getting colder. Her project was more a broad scarf stitched together to a short cloak to cover her arms.

But she wanted more than a simple piece of fabric and had started attaching tassels to the edges off the light brown fabric, making sure to measure the space between them accurately, to keep an even pattern.

It was something she kept working on, when the smaller mending orders were done.

Noon arrived and she was walking the market looking for a small lunch, when she ran into a familiar blond.

"Lucette! Nice to see you! How are you doing?" Emelaigne exclaimed happily at seeing her, walking up to her in short order.

"Princess," Lucette greeted the girl, "It's a normal day with no trouble. I'm just on break right now."

"Really? Walk with me a bit!" Emelaigne said and started pulling her along right away

"My break isn't that long..." she started, but the girl didn't seem to listen, chattering along without a pause.

"Do you have any siblings, Lucette?" she asked and the cursed princess sighed.

"No. My parents... did not get along well," she wasn't even lying there. She had only rarely seen them talking, but her father had gone great lengths to avoid them. It made her wonder why they got married in the first place.

"...oh..." The admission slowed the girl down at least a bit. "But it isn't too bad, right?"

The worry was... confusing. What did that girl care? It wasn't as if she could change how people behaved. "It was never violent, as much as I could see. I'm not living with my father at the moment."

It made her wonder sometimes, how he may react to remembering her. Would he be disappointed to have the child back he had been so happy without?

"Look, there's Rod!" The girl seemed relieved at seeing her brother, if only to change the topic, "Rod, did you find something for mother's birthday?"

Right, Ophelia's birthday was happening soon. Lucette didn't remember how she had managed to stay out of the whole thing last year, outside of feeling miserable with a fit of bad health and not even remembering the week around it.

Emelaigne chattered at her brother for a moment and then pulled them both along, much to Lucette's displeasure.

Practically jumping from stall to stall, as she was, it was not difficult to get some distance between herself and the girl.

"What are you playing at?"

Lucette glanced sideways at Rod, who was glaring at her. "So you  _ do _ remember me," she noted coolly, "But believe it or not, it is your sister that keeps searching me out. I have no idea why."

Rod kept glaring, "With that attitude, you'll never get the good deeds to break your curse." "Collaborated with witches recently? why do you claim to know anything about the removal of this problem?" Lucette let her voice drop to glacial, fitting her own glare.

For a second Rod's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything else, turning away after a few moments, just in time for Emelaigne to turn back around and point out some curiosity to him.

With both royals occupied Lucette managed exactly walking past five stalls, when she heard squeaking.

Confused she looked around, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from. It repeated and her feet carried her away from the edge of the market, where Emelaigne had pulled her along to, into a side alley.

Boxes and barrels stood at the walls of the buildings lining it and- a tail peeked out from between a fallen over box, some straw stuffing scattered in front of it.

The tail disappeared and then a small brown nose replaced it, followed by a tiny head with triangular ears.

Within moments Lucette was by the box, crouching down in front of it to look at the kitten crouching in the straw, looking at her wide eyed.

Taking a straw and dangling it in front of the kitten was a given and after a few minutes she held out her hand and it came close, pushing its head into it. Lucette marveled at the soft fur brushing along her fingers. It was relaxing and calming and lighting her mood a lot.

There was a strange sound coming from a bit away and she stood back, scooping the kitten up in the process. Rod was standing at the entrance of the alley, giving her a wide-eyed look, Emelaigne right next to him, giving her a beaming smile.

"What?" she asked coolly, frowning at their expressions.

"You just smiled!" Emelaigne exclaimed, walking up to her, "It made you look really pretty!"

Lucette gave her an incredulous look. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she shot back after a moment of silence.

"You're still holding the kitten," Rod supplied helpfully, sounding out of his depth.

Lucette glanced down at the kitten cuddling into the crook of her arm, her fingers still steadily brushing through the fur. Green eyes gave her a look of innocence, slightly fluffy fur and bushy tail puffed up in the cold.

She dropped the kitten into Emelaigne's arms. "Have fun with it, I need to get back to the store."

Emelaigne didn't seem to have expected that one, letting out a squeak herself, when there was suddenly a small living being in her hands.

"But- I can't! That's-!"

"You'll be responsible for people as a princess. Get some practice at responsibility," Lucette threw in at the stammered words. It may even slow down her carefree attitude a bit.

And cats were great. She would definitely get one for herself when she returned to the palace. That was just preparing the palace for it.

-oOo-

"-and then proceeded to try to crawl under Sir Mythros' shirt, much to princess Emelaigne's mortification," Fritz ended the tale of the kitten christened 'Snowball', "He took it with humor. The kitten's antics seem to amuse him more than anything else. Which is just as well. It seems to really like him."

Lucette was feeling pretty amused by the tale, nibbling on a croissant Fritz had brought with him from some bakery. It was quite tasty. She hadn't noticed how much she had missed pastries.

It had been a few days since she had handed the kitten over to Emelaigne and truthfully, she hadn't expected her to keep the kitten. Maybe play a bit with the fur ball, before putting it back down and leaving.

But she hadn't. Instead she took it with her back to the palace and now there was a new inhabitant getting its paws into every kind of trouble during explorations.

Having finished the croissant, Lucette brushed the crumbs off hand and hid her arms back under the finished cloak.

It was much warmer with it on and had become quite necessary with the snowfall increasing and the snow no longer melting during the day.

The temperature had dropped and now ice, snow and cold wind tended to be the norm. With her project finished, Helena had started teaching her knitting and currently she was practicing to get the lines even for a simple scarf.

Fritz, having ended his tale, had been smiling during it, but now the smile was slowly fading. "Prin- Lucette, I... I tried to look into the curse, but... the only thing that I noticed were gaps in my memory. I don't think that I started to sleepwalk, but sometimes I awake in my home standing, wide awake, despite having gone to bed normally."

That didn't sound good. It didn't seem to be dangerous, but... "Did you try to pinpoint when it started?" she asked instead, "It must have been before I got cursed, when you could remember me right away."  


"I tried... but I was already forgetful before and I only noticed now, because I was looking for unusual happenings," he replied, looking dejected.

Lucette frowned. "It can't have been in the city. You keep to populated areas and people would have noticed and told you what happened. The same applies to you serving your duty as knight, there would have always been witnesses. When where you alone?"

"At home," he blurted out, "I tend to sleep at home. But me and father don't have guests there. And he returns every night."

"And definitely not a witch," she agreed, "Did you have any meetings, you can't remember?"

Fritz frowned, visibly thinking, "Father calls me for meetings all the time, to carry messages and such, but there're so many of them... I can't say..."

Not good. With no way of interrogating the witch in question, there was no help with the curse, just like herself, as she didn't want to face Delora-

...that was an idea...

"Fritz, I have a mission for you," she said, "I am not sure, if it may be dangerous or not."

Her knight's head snapped up, looking at her startled.

"Due to some circumstances I came about the knowledge of an inn, where a fairy is trying to help people with their curses. I can't go there myself. People there would remember me and I remember which opinion they had of me. I  _ also  _ learned that the witch, the one who cursed me, may also be there," she could see Fritz's eyes widen in surprise, but she continued, "It seems, cursing someone is not her normal behavior, so people there respect her."

"And you want me to do… what exactly?" he asked carefully, visibly thinking the information over, she had just supplied.

"Rod made a comment, which made it sound like he had contact to the witch in question, regarding how he is also cursed and remembering me. There is also a child street performer, who searched me out to try to get me to visit this inn. As such, I would say, both of them know the location," Lucette took a deep breath, "I want you to search this inn out. Try to get help for yourself. Try to judge how safe it would be for me to visit this inn. If you can, try to get out of the witch, why she cursed me, without putting yourself in unnecessary danger."

Fritz was looking at her, surprised but… happy? Why was he looking happy about this mission? "I'll do the best I can!" he told her seriously, "I promise."

-oOo-

It was a few days after the meeting with Fritz, when she got approached on the streets during another break.

"Hello, princess. Your knight found our inn and caused quite some chaos there, you know?" the voice of the street performer was, while not causing any kind of reassurance, still familiar enough, to not completely startle her.

Oh, really? She raised an unimpressed brow at the boy. "Is there a problem?" she finally asked, "Why are you searching me out?" Despite their prior talk at that.

"...I wanted to know if you're alright," he said, eyes sad. Then there was suddenly a bouquet of white lilies in his hands. "Can we talk? Just for a few minutes?"

Lucette stared at the bundle of her favourite flowers offered to her and after a short hesitation slowly took it. "Start talking," she finally replied.

"There are two kinds of curses. Malicious ones and educational ones. Delora meant her curse to be educational," he started, his smile fading at her unimpressed look.

"Educational. I woke up with literally nothing in the city, in an area I didn't know and she most likely couldn't predict. With her most likely not having the resources of searching the whole city for me quickly. What about that is  _ educational? _ Could you explain that?" she only could barely keep herself from snarling.

He flinched back a moment, but then seemed to catch himself. "We knew her spell wouldn't reach far, so we knew where we  _ wouldn't  _ need to look. And so we went looking right after you got cursed," a wry smile appeared on his face, "It's kind of funny. We were about to stop looking for the night, when we ran into two guys complaining about a 'hag chewing them out' to protect some street girl's money. Just a few minutes after it happened."

So Helena had practically snatched her away from under their noses? "Must have been frustrating," she commented, "To get your price snatched away after getting so close."

"I was very happy, you know?" Lucette blinked in surprise. "I really wanted to show you that not all people are like your mother said they are. I'm happy that you already found someone like that."

"You're talking, like you know me," she noted with a frown, "I think, I would remember knowing you. I only saw you during that street performance."

A pained expression fluttered over his face, but was gone just as fast. "I apologize, princess. My name is Waltz. I'm living at the Marchen, an inn which was opened by the Lucis bearer to help people, who got cursed," a sad smile appeared on his face, "If... something should happen, she would shelter you. Not taking you in was never  _ not _ in the plans."

Lucette gave him a cold look. "No, thank you. I have a place."

"Of course, I just... the offer is there," another smile. He wanted to say something else, but suddenly there were children mobbing him.

"Waltz!"" A game!" "A trick!" They cheered, pulling him away, laughing loudly.

Lucette watched them leave, a laughing and cheering crowd. A strange feeling coiled inside her as she watched them.

She clung to the flowers she was still holding, turned away and left.


	6. Chapter 04 - To Look...

Days passed and snow kept falling.

Lucette watched the lilies in full bloom, petals curling slightly, stems straight and proud, head resting on her forearms on the table.

"No longer put off or offended by admirers?" Helena commented lightly, "Or something else going on?"

Twitching at the question, Lucette tried to glare, but couldn't bring herself to. After all the things piling up and nothing getting solved, she couldn't bring herself use up strength for it. Nothing new learned about her curse. Fritz being cursed as well. His curse being even more evading than hers...

She was getting tired of the whole situation. One and a half months and nothing had changed. Still nothing had changed. Still everything was the same.

Having her favourite flowers was comforting, especially because they were real, they had the familiar smell and blooming, despite it being way past their blooming phase regarding season. In a way it left her curious how Waltz had gotten them.

"Not a good day, uh?" Helena murmured quietly, sitting down next to her, "Anything I can do?" Lucette just shook her head. She had already remembered that the Tenebrarum bearer hadn't come forward yet, so a shortcut to curse breaking wasn't even a possibility yet.

And she really wanted her life back. And if possible, yesterday and the weeks lost to the curse.

The sudden brush of a hand over her head made her flinch, but when she looked up, Helena was already walking away, the feeling fading away as if having never been there.

"Helena, did you have children, while being married?" The question escaped her, before she could bite her tongue. The witch twitched and then sighed. "Yes. But I left when he was still very small and his father quickly remarried. He is in his forties, now. He was so small that I doubt, he remembers me. And his stepmother was a good woman and accepted him like her own."

Lucette pondered that and then went back to staring at the flowers. "Does leaving your own child alone like that hurt?" 

"…Very…" the woman confirmed and Lucette was back in her own thoughts.

How would her father be, when she returned? If it really hurt so much to let go of your child, because it has another loving parent, how could he claim to love her and still leave her alone like that just after mother died? How much did he hate her to still act like that?

If she hadn't gotten cursed, what would have happened? She would have stayed in the palace until her father ordered her out. The ball would have happened at some point for her instead of Emelaigne. No one may have been able to notice Fritz's curse.

The thoughts were pulling at her. The necklace was the embodied curse, a collar with lock and she didn't know where the key was and it felt like it was slowly pulling tighter-

A paw batted at her face, trying to catch the strands dangling in front of it. Sputtering, she sat up straighter, staring at the white furred cat in question, which was still pawing at her, a basket behind her, which was held by-

"Good morning, princess," she got out, not quite able to keep the confusion out of her voice. Why was Emelaigne here?

"Hello Lucette," the girl chirped, "I wanted to reintroduce Snowball to you and you were so deep in thought that you didn't even notice me coming in, so I thought I could give you a surprise instead."

Lucette eyed the cat again. Well, it  _ did _ look like the one from the alley...

"You were allowed to keep it, just like that?" she asked curiously, starting to pet the cat. It was a pity, she couldn't take Rose or Velvet to the store. The fluffy cats would have been nice to have around to distract her from her thoughts.

"Father wasn't sure yet, due to how busy the palace is at the moment, but mentioning that it may help me learn about responsibility convinced him," the blonde smiled.

"Did it teach you anything yet?" Lucette raised a brow at how the other girl cringed.

"It's still  _ my  _ cat, even when it causes trouble," the girl sighed, "I'm kind of surprised in how much trouble this one can get."

"Like crawling under shirts?" the cursed girl jabbed and Emelaigne stared at her.

"You heard of that?" she squeaked, embarrassed.

"Fritz mentioned it." Lucette waved off. Her knight had told her everything about how the kitten had explored its new surroundings, which had involved climbing onto Mythros' lap to inspect this new person. Then something had startled it and the cat had tried to hide in response to the loud noise.

"...You know Fritz? He never mentioned..." Emelaigne trailed off, glancing at the flowers in the vase, "Are these from him?"

"Hm?" Lucette eyed the flowers for a moment, "No. These were a... bribe from someone else. I met Fritz a few years ago and didn't think he would remember it. He told me the story, while catching up." That reminded her, Emelaigne was fancying Fritz, wasn't she? Or at the least found him nice to look at.

Taking a string, she dangled it in front of the kitten, letting the end twitch around. The cat went pouncing after it, right away.

"Aw! It's so cute!" The blond girl crooned, taking a string herself and trying to get the kitten’s attention as well. And failing. Expression disappointed, she watched the kitten tumble around.

"If you wave it around in the air like that, it won't do anything," Lucette finally took pity on her, "You twitch it a bit away from them while moving it away slightly and-" she did so and the animal pounced after the retreating object "-it'll follow the retreating prey right away."

Perking back up, Emelaigne followed the instructions and soon the kitten was racing around between them, until it flopped down and Lucette watched the small animal, running her fingers over its head.

"You make it look so  _ easy _ ," the blonde girl finally said with a sigh and Lucette gave her a questioning look.

"Manners. Etiquette," Emelaigne elaborated, "You always walk back straight, you always address everyone properly, when you were in the palace delivering the flowers, you had this...presence. People looked at you first and  _ only then _ at me...  _ How?  _ I can try and try and try and the tutors are never happy. Be it this or etiquette. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a baker's daughter. I already struggle with the responsibility of owning a  _ cat _ . And I'm supposed to make decisions involving  _ people _ ."

Lucette blinked in surprise. That... hadn't been what she expected. "Not like the fairytales at all?" she commented, remembering the talk over breakfast before that visit in town, when she had said how inaccurate these stories were.

"It's really not. It always stops with the great evil being defeated and the princess and the prince marrying. And everything is well for the rest of their lives," Emelaigne petted the cat as well, which started purring at the attention, "There is just...  _ so much _ to it."

For a moment Lucette pondered, what Emelaigne had thought being a princess involved until the lessons started.

"My mother insisted I learned these things," she said instead, "She was really strict regarding that. I was still very young then. But about the walking?" She looked Emelaigne over. "Show me."

"Now?" Emelaigne stared at her in surprise. Lucette nodded. Everything to distract her from these thoughts. Every bit of proof that Emelaigne  _ couldn't _ simply replace her was welcome. But even so, having a stepsister with bad manners would reflect on her. Especially with eyes being more scrutinizing due to the ball.

She was pretty sure that people -as in other nobles- hadn't cared much beforehand.

Lucette watched Emelaigne taking a few steps. The pace was acceptable, but she was slouching. "Back straight," she instructed, coolly. Emelaigne jerked and tried again.

"You move as if you're afraid the ground will rise up and swallow you," she finally sighted, "You're a princess, be more sure of yourself! If it's visible that you doubt your decisions, people will try to exploit it."

Emelaigne gave her a surprised look. "I'm not... arrogant enough?" she asked confused.

"Confident," Lucette corrected, "You're uncertain and it shows in how you hold yourself."

The blonde blinked slowly. "And what are these elaborate manners for?"

"Rules of behavior and social interaction. Everyone playing by the same rules, which means that everyone knows what is an insult and what  _ isn't _ ," Lucette turned to look at the cat again, "Exceptionally important while dealing with diplomats. They tend to learn the native manners of the country they're sent to. If they're polite, at least."

"That… I can understand," Emelaigne sighed, "The tutors just goes, this is important and that is important and this and that is  _ necessary _ ."

"As important as that sounds, I need my help back," Helena suddenly cut in with a smile, "But princess? Telling your teacher that background information may help you learning these things, may help. Otherwise... he is expected to put the teaching of years into your head in months. He may simply not have the time."

Emelaigne pondered that, but then nodded, smiling broadly again. "Thank you! And thank you as well, Lucette! You really helped me here!"

The blonde princess was gone soon, leaving the store quiet.

Lucette felt exhausted for some reason.

Helena dumped a bundle of fabric onto the table next to her and smiled wryly, "I wasn't lying about needing my help back."

Well... knowing that Emelaigne may be quite willing to leave the status of crown princess behind, was calming somehow...

Breathing a bit easier, Lucette reached for the first piece of clothing.

-oOo-

Days passed slowly and steadily, if not satisfyingly. Lucette worked at the store, improved her skills slowly, and sometimes saw Waltz having a performance on the market.

He never failed to wave at her when he saw her, but she tended to look away. There was something about seeing him that made her uncomfortable. Not that she would ever admit it. But there was something uncanny about being near him. She heard his voice and some words just… echoed in her head. As if she had heard it before. But she would remember a performer in the palace. There had been none while her mother had been alive and the entertainers at the parties had always been adults.

If Helena noticed anything, she didn't say it and kept quiet.

Thinking about it, Lucette wasn't sure what kind of label she would apply to the older woman. Tutor wasn't fitting, she did way more than just teaching her. There was a name for taking someone in like she had, but she couldn't remember it.

And one afternoon she returned to the shop after her break and found Helena looking oddly amused. "There is someone here wanting to talk with you," she said and Lucette frowned.

Trying to figure out, she ran through the options. Emelaigne may visit again, but there was no reason for Helena to look so amused about it. Fritz was also a possibility, but that also wouldn't explain why she had that expression...

There was a young man standing at the back of the shop, eyeing the scarf she was currently practicing knitting on. And he was definitely familiar, hair coloured a distinct dark green. And when he turned at her approaching, his face settled his identity.

So, the question was: What did Mythros want from her?

"Sir Mythros," she greeted the man formally, "How may I be of service?"

"Greetings," the man replied with a smile,"I am bringing a... request, so to speak. From the queen, to be more specific."

From the... What did Ophelia want from her?

"And what kind of request is this?" she asked, trying to mask her curiosity.

"One regarding teaching," the young man answered, "The tutor of princess Emelaigne proved himself unable to adapt his teaching methods over the last few days, despite the reasoning you gave the princess causing visible improvement."

Did it? "And he was unreasonable enough to cause being let go?" It sounded a bit strange. Emelaigne had never complained about the man before from what she could remember.

"Insisting that the improvements are proof of her simply being 'stubborn' instead of alternative ways of teaching being a better approach and storming off in insulted offense when the student insists otherwise does," he explained, "The king listened to both sides of the story, before deciding that trying differently couldn't be too harmful."

Well, if she was truthful, she hadn't liked the guy herself either. He had always acted like he was the only one that knew what was right and keeping diplomatic incidents from happening.

"The request is exactly what?" she asked and Mythros smiled. "Taking over the tutoring lessons, including the payment. There is one session every day, spanning over the afternoon."

So, instead of taking her break, she would go to the palace and conduct the lessons there.

Lucette frowned. "His majesty is aware that I am younger than the princess and not even reached majority yet?"

"He weighed it against Emelaigne being willing to learn from you and the progress will be observed," the advisor confirmed.

"And why are you the one bringing the message, instead of a messenger?" That was something she really wanted to know. Normally, these kinds of requests were sent with messengers and not with a royal advisor.

There was a short bout of silence, followed by a sigh. "I don't know. Initially, the queen wanted to come herself, but something came up and the king handed the order to me. I don't presume to know his reasoning there."

A random decision of her father then. Not too out of line as well. He did these sometimes, marrying Ophelia was just the biggest one there.

"And as it is, if you agree, you're expected at the palace," he added.

"A bit rushed," she commented, throwing a quick look over to Helena, who was shamelessly listening in to the whole conversation.

"Oh, there won't be a problem on my side," the woman waved off, "Your morning work is done and I didn't take any offers where I would need your help, after he arrived."

"...I can give it a try, I guess," she agreed. The payment would be much more generous than her current allowance, even if she only worked during the afternoon. At the same time she got to make sure that Emelaigne wouldn't be an embarrassment to the crown.

"Wonderful! If you would come with me then, please," the man smiled.

"Just a moment," Lucette walked over to Helena, "In the evening..."

"Just go straight to the house. There is no reason to check on the store first," the witch replied, "There would be a high chance that you would miss me leaving anyway and then your way would only lengthen."

Nodding, Lucette turned back around grabbing her cloak. Honey coloured eyes were fixated on her with a strange intense touch to it. Then he turned away to open the door for her and they stepped outside.

She fought back a frown, trying to figure out why he had just looked at her like that. Was he suspicious of something? But they had only met once after she had gotten cursed, the day she had delivered the flowers and she had run into him.

But hadn't Emelaigne mentioned, he had asked about her afterward?

Lucette glanced at the man walking beside her, trying to recollect everything she knew about him.

He was in his twenties and quite young for his current position. A minor lord or lower nobility somehow. Members of the middle-class and lower didn't learn the kind of manners he had presented from the very beginning.

And otherwise there was nothing about him, she could recall. Sure, he talked to her mother's portrait sometimes, when he thought no one was looking, but that didn't have to mean anything. He had only appeared inside the palace after her mother had died, from what she knew. Her father trusted him. He was competent with his work.

Not much, regarding that he was a member of the court and a trusted advisor to her father. But then she hadn't been interested in him for any other reason than that he was an advisor to her father.

And he himself had never talked bad about her at least, putting him way above gossiping maids.

Glancing at him now, he at least didn't seem offended about the situation, despite being delegated to collect her, who was going to be a tutor for the princess at most, and him being a royal advisor and as such in a much higher social class than her, no matter if she accepted the job or not.

"Is there a reason why you're so happy to escort me? I imagine an advisor to his majesty has better and more important things to do than escorting a tutor to the palace," she finally asked, watching stepping through the palace gate. What had even changed since she had done so the last time? She wasn't a single step closer to breaking her curse, nor to understanding it...

"Everything has its reasons," he replied, "I-"

"Lucette! I hoped, you would take the job offer!" Emelaigne squealed, hurrying over to them, most likely not even noticing that she was interrupting Mythros. Awareness was something she would have to work on.

"Princess Emelaigne," Mythros greeted the girl, his politeness somewhat forced, clearly not liking being rudely interrupted like that. "I didn't expect the lesson of your mother ending this... early."

"Mother was requested for some decision regarding the ball," the girl explained, turning back to Lucette, "You being here  _ does _ mean, you accepted the offer, right? You're going to teach me?"

"Yes. And we can start right away, princess," Lucette replied neutrally, "Stand straight. The lessons are going to be useless, if you only use what you learned during the lessons."

"I see, you're in your element already," Mythros seemed to force down a chuckle at Emelaigne's dumbfounded expression, "I'll leave you to it."

"Do you know why he was delegated to collect me? You're slouching again," Lucette asked as they followed him deeper into the palace at a much slower pace. She couldn't keep the thought away that there was more to it.

"Oh, father noticed his interest in you and offered the task to him," the blonde replied, back straightened again, "He noticed that Mythros seemed interested in you after your last visit and father thought, he may have a crush-"

From around the corner in front of them there was the sound of metal hitting the floor, followed by cursing. "I guess, he heard that one," Lucette noted, forcing herself to keep her face straight, as they rounded the corner, finding Mythros eyeing them with a horrified look, one hand stabilizing himself against the wall, a decorative armour fallen over at the ground in front of him.

Had he just stumbled into it?

As it was, he saw Lucette, went utterly chalk white and fled the hallway.

"You may want to keep saying something like that away from people who may overhear you, if it's not supposed to be overheard," Lucette noticed, unable to say how much training and practice just exactly went into keeping her voice and face calm, "Stand straight."

Emelaigne obeyed without saying anything, staring at the space the advisor had occupied a few moments before. Lucette gave her a look over and raised a brow. "Where is the room the lessons normally take place in?" she finally asked when the girl didn't make any indication to move for a few moments.

The question seemed to startle her back to reality. "I- right, this way!" she squeaked and started walking again. "Should I apologize for this one?"

Lucette gave her a look. "You may have caused a few persistent rumours, if people have overheard you saying that. Mythros is a very private person, from what I know, and may not appreciate that one. Especially, with no one outside himself knowing, if it's true or not," she replied flatly, "And I know that I'll be very unhappy, if I hear any gossipers talking about rumours involving me as if they're fact. Especially, if they're untrue."

Emelaigne flinched at that, recoiling into herself- "I told you to keep your back straight," she repeated, stopping her walk only as she reached for the door of the room Emelaigne had stopped in front of.

It was a normal room, just like the one mother had given her lessons in. Chalkboard, study desk, free space for motion and posture training.

"Don't bother with sitting down," she replied, a first stage of teaching forming in her head, as she motioned to the free space. Emelaigne grimaced at that.

"Chin up, eyes straight and no looking down, start walking," she instructed, "What do you know about the protocol of a formal ball? Back straight."

She remembered how her mother had taught her. Voice even, strict and never needing to raise her voice. Shouting was unbecoming. Especially, when it was unnecessary.

"Uhm..." Emelaigne tried and slowed her stride a bit. Acceptable, as long as she kept her back straight. Which she didn't. Catching her frown that was quickly resolved.

"Where is your position at the beginning of the ball?" maybe asking for the specific stages of the ball would give her a reference point of how much Emelaigne had already learned, "And if you keep slouching, I'm going to see if there is a corset around."

Emelaigne stilled for a moment and then slouched down, depressed. "Is a corset really necessary? These things are really uncomfortable. Just like high heels."

Lucette fought back a frown. "It's just a matter of practice and getting used to it," she finally said. "And making sure that it is fitting. We're not looking for a soft one to tighten the waist. You need something stiffer. With a wire mesh giving stabilization and enforcing the posture. At least if you don't manage to work on your posture until the ball. On that matter, we'll need to work on the heels as well. Walking in them will be trained as well. We can't have a princess stumble over her own feet. Or looking ridiculous walking in them."

"So, if I manage to keep my posture without one, I won't need it?" Emelaigne sounded eager and chipper right away at the possibility of avoiding it.

"Back straight, keep walking," Lucette continued, "Which is the opening dance of a formal ball and how many steps does it have?"

It went like that for quite some time. Lucette asked questions, trying to pinpoint where exactly her stepsister was lacking education, while correcting her posture whenever it became necessary.

Her knowledge about the names of the lords and who they were was less lacking than her knowledge of protocol and also mostly correct. And even the posture wasn't a lost cause.

If only because Emelaigne was starting to notice by herself when she slouched and corrected it.

Both of them turned in surprise when there was a knock on the door and a maid opened it.

"Princess, you're expected for dinner," she said curtseying. Lucette glanced to the window, blinking in surprise at the sinking sun.

How fast time passed.

"I'll take my leave then," Lucette said, "I assume, I should arrive roughly the next time today?"

Emelaigne nodded, looking exhausted, but also strangely happy. Well, but then who knew what was going on in her head.

While the girl disappeared to the dining room, Lucette made her way out of the palace to leave her rightful home for her current one.

-oOo-

"A corset, hm?" Helena pondered that question for a bit. "You should be careful with these. Binding them too tightly can interfere with your breathing. Long-term some other stuff may crop up as well. But wearing them occasionally to keep posture during functions isn't a bad idea."

"I'll need one that reaches down to the lower back," Lucette commented. "Stiff. Wires woven in should give enough structure there. And she is old enough that she won't need one to smaller the waist for an hourglass figure."

Her mother had always watched her behavior, making sure that she wouldn't waver, commenting when she had outgrown something. But after her death, Lucette hadn't been able to allow a childish appearance anymore. It was a vulnerability, she couldn't allow. With going through puberty this action had lost on importance and while she didn't miss the wais restrictions, she did miss the unyielding feeling of the corset. It was strange, how she could miss it, but not wearing one after all these years was... strange. Almost uncomfortable.

Maybe she should see about getting herself one as well.

Helena was quiet for a moment, watching her with a frown, opened her mouth and then closed it again without saying anything.

Before she could ask about it, Velvet distracted her, warm fluffy fur cuddling up, nuzzling her face, whiskers tickling against her skin. Weight draped itself over her shoulders, warm and just as fluffy and Rose nuzzled the other side of her face.

"They really love you," Helena smiled. "Just be careful about the binding of the corset and it should be alright."

-oOo-

With her being inside the palace each afternoon, it was only a matter of time until Lucette met Rod again. She wasn't surprised that Fritz hadn't searched her out. Inside the palace his duties as a knight came first and she was busy for most of the time she was in.

But as it was, now she needed to deal with her stepbrother first, who was accompanying his sister to today's lesson for some reason.

As it was her posture at least proved to be no lost cause. Having her walk while distracting her helped to make her keep her posture without paying attention to it.

"Lucette!" the blonde girl chirped, "I was already wondering if you couldn't feel the cold! The snow is pretty though, isn't it?"

Lucette fought back an eye roll. She hadn't noticed the cold much before, wearing a cloak outside. The store and the house were always warm as well. But after a customer had spilled perfume inside the store, Helena had left a window cracked overnight to air the worst off it out and the rooms had been resulting cold in the morning.

Helena had taken one look at her when she hadn't taken off the coat and then seemed simply sighed, telling her that she could have said that she needed warmer things.

Truthfully, Lucette didn't know why she should have. Helena was a reasonable host, yes, but she didn't hand out things for free. She couldn't afford it, if she didn't want to go bankrupt. And it hadn't been a problem with the cloak after all.

And the dress had already been provided for free and she was working for her stay. She wasn't a charity case that needed to beg for things. It simply hadn't been a necessary expense.

Helena had simply shaken her head at that explanation, lips twitching as if fighting back a smile and told her to make sure to keep warm to not get sick.

And looking back the long sleeves and thicker fabric were much more comfortable than the thinner dress, which was now properly folded and hung up in the cupboard of her bedroom.

And as it was, she also had managed to get her hands on a corset again and was feeling much better for it.

Rod was eyeing her with a stoic expression, but didn't say anything as Emelaigne chattered on, stepping further into the room. "-and father asked me if I knew why Mythros was suddenly hiding in his office so much-"

Mythros hadn't turned up anywhere near her since the day he had brought her the request. It was a morbid curiosity from which the question arose about when he would dare to face her again. But up to now she had seen no sign of him.

Well, at least she hadn't heard a wisp of a rumour either, so at least no one seemed to have overheard Emelaigne's comment back then.

"-but I didn't tell him what happened. I would be so embarrassed, if something like that happened to me-!"

"I'm sure," Lucette finally stopped the flow of words. "But we need to get today's lesson started."

"Oh, would it be alright, if Rod stays for today? Father wants an outsider's report on how it is going. Oh, and mother wants me to look at some things later, so the session should be shorter today."

Lucette fought back a sigh and simply nodded. "There shouldn't be a problem."

As it was, Rod didn't say anything during the lesson and simply watched the proceedings until a maid appeared to collect Emelaigne.

The moment, the girl was gone, Rod glared at her. "What are you playing at?" he demanded to know.

Lucette raised an unimpressed brow at him. "I'll tell you the same thing, I said the last time. Your sister is the one searching me out," she answered coolly.

"Then why are you here?" 

"Outside of the generous payment? Her behavior reflecting on the whole royal family? Her embarrassing herself during the ball would affect every member, if only due to allowing her to neglect her education." Rod's knuckles went white as his fists tightened.

"Emelaigne doesn't need you around!" Maybe the words were supposed to be hissed, but the effect was ruined by the words being said by the bunny plushy, which didn't seem to be able to make this kind of noise.

"I'm sure of it. It's a pity that she is so receiving to my way of teaching, isn't it? Or do you not want her to learn?" Fists tightened further and Lucette frowned. Rod was always so defensive of his sister, why should he want her to embarrass herself? "As it is, I am simply doing my job here."

"Do you even try to break your curse?" Rod 'snarled'. The bunny was really ruining the effect.

"I'm planning to. Fritz is assisting me there. Regarding information gathering." He hadn't come to her yet since finding the Marchen, but who knew what the people there were like. "Or is there anything you want to say? You implied knowing something, some time back."

Tense like a bowstring, Rod stormed out of the room, not saying another word.

-oOo-

It was strange, how within a few days the new routine had settled in again. Spending the short morning time reapplying the dye to make sure no red roots appeared, working in the store, tutoring Emelaigne (she had added some basic laws to the lesson, so the girl would know what she shouldn't promise) and in the evening doing this or that, mostly working on a small project of her own -she really wanted a nice scarf- or humouring the cats.

The days passed and for some reason Emelaigne met her everyday with a cheery smile and new enthusiasm, no matter how much Lucette pushed her during the lessons, making her walk, testing her posture and endurance how long she could hold it while questioning her about protocol and names and procedures while filling in missing or wrong answerers with smaller lectures.

"Aren't you angry at me for taking up so much of your time?" Emelaigne asked one evening after the lesson ended. "I mean, I am sure the store is quite busy and now your teaching me…" 

"I am still working inside the store each morning until I come to the palace," Lucette replied coolly. "That was something I checked with Helena before accepting the request."

"So, you're still working the whole day? Don't you do anything for yourself? I love visiting the city and my friends there! Maybe, we could use one afternoon to do that, instead of the lessons!" 

"I don't think his majesty would be very happy about that," she noted dryly. "I'm supposed to instill manners and self-discipline on you, not encouraging you to slack off. Just because we're catching up with the timetable, doesn't mean you can slow down. There is still quite some stuff to cover."

Emelaigne let out a dejected sigh. "I miss the time when I didn't need to worry about etiquette. Or walking right. Or could have a whole day to myself without any worries. Don't you miss having time for yourself?"

Lucette thought back to hours spent in her room, talking to dolls, because they were the only ones who couldn't betray her trust. Did she miss that?

...she wasn't sure. She wanted her curse broken, to gain back her birthright. But there was this strange pang in her chest at the thought of it. She would miss the cats at least. But the shop? Spending hours just as quiet as she had before, with tasks under her standing... No, she wouldn't miss that, she was sure of it.

But why was she feeling this pang in her chest at the thought of it?

"I'm not doing much different to before," she said, not voicing the other thoughts running through her head. She liked sewing, despite how far below her standing it was. And maybe she could pick it back up, her mother wasn't around anymore after all, as traitorous as the thought was. And she highly doubted that her other dolls were witches in disguise.

"...it must be nice to do what you like doing as your job," Emelaigne noted, walking down the hallway next to her.

It was an old topic her stepsister was bringing up. Wishing she was someone else. To be the same as she had been before her mother remarrying.

Speaking of it... "And would you be doing, if you weren't the crown princess? Waiting around for some prince to turn up and sweep you away?"

And Emelaigne promptly blushed. "Well... Not a  _ prince _ ..." She mumbled quietly.

"Good evening, Princess. Good evening, Lucette," Fritz greeted them, having just rounded a corner in front of them. "I was hoping I would find you before you leave."

"Of course," Lucette nodded calmly, inwardly memorizing the way Emelaigne's eyes widened at the words exchanged and how she seemed to pale despite the blush. Seemed like she found Fritz more than just handsome...

Well, it was nothing, she would get involved in. It was a bit like with Mythros in that matter, it seemed. If the interested person did nothing to voice their interest, they didn't get to complain when their chance passed. And cowards had no place in court anyway.

"Princess, I'll take my leave then," she bid the other girl goodbye, who only nodded quietly, a strangely lost expression on her face.

A few minutes in silence and then they were in a smaller courtyard and alone.

"Fritz. It's good to see you well," she said quietly. "Waltz found me in the plaza again, telling me you found the inn?"

"Yes," there was a strange expression on the knight's face. He didn't seem quite happy about something. "And you were right. A witch named Delora is staying there, well liked and respected. I tried talking to the inhabitants, but as helpful as they seemed towards me, when I mentioned you..." He trailed off and she nodded slowly, frowning.

"I talked to the witch as well. But she wants to talk to you personally about the curse," he added. Lucette fought back a snarl at that, but only barely. She was no dog to be ordered to heel, no matter what that necklace indicated!

But with no progress regarding her curse, she may need to make that visit at some point...

"Would you deem it safe?" She finally asked and the knight froze for a second, before glancing around for a moment, not meeting her eyes.

"I... am not sure," he finally replied, "I mean, everyone there tends to be friendly. But there are two people I know- knew. I knew. They're acting really different to me now, when before I would have labelled us friends. I would like to figure out first what's going on there."

Another problem then. Or at least an unknown situation that needed careful handling. She nodded again.

"Just... Be careful. I'm sure you're doing what you can," she finally said.

Fritz nodded, relief clearly visible on his face and then left a bit later to return to his duties. Strange that he still had tasks this late in the day...

And now it was late and she was still here herself. Alone and unsupervised and no one pushing her to leave.

What did her room look like now?

Her thoughts carried her to the door in question and it was surprising how the few people she met didn't stop her.

The hallway with the door was completely empty. And the door unlocked as well. She stepped inside.

The sight of her room was like a hammer to the head. Not because it was dusty and in disarray. Because it  _ wasn't _ . It was utterly unchanged. Clean and tidy, as if she could walk in whenever she wanted and return to whom she had been before being cursed.

Closing the door behind her, she walked further into the room, turning around herself. It all looked the same. Was the same. Unchanged-

Not quite. Frowning, Lucette stepped to the shelf with dolls where a much simpler one had taken the place where Delora had been placed when Lucette hadn't been holding her.

Simpler, lesser quality than the others, but still there. Who had put it there? And why? And the situation kept her from asking someone about it. It would only cause questions why she had been in here in the first place.

Feeling utterly exhausted trying to grasp everything going on, she let herself fall onto her bed, staring upward.

It was strange, how the softness had gotten unfamiliar. And no cats were pouncing on her or curling up with her.

...She missed the cats.

Letting out a sigh, she forced herself to get back up. She couldn't sleep in here anyway. And if she waited longer, the way back would only get dangerous, like the evening out in the streets and she didn't even have the blade-!

Blinking she stopped herself reaching for the door handle and turned back around. How stupid of her. She was in her room. The blade should be in here, hidden in its usual place.

Prying the hidden space in the bedframe open was easily done. There was the music box and key her mother had given her and told her to keep save. And the old and crude doll she didn't know why she kept it, but was unexplainable fond of.

The handle was a familiar weight in her hand. Paranoia having driven her to at least familiarize herself with handling and weight and the jerk of the blade extending out of the handle to what was either a long knife or a short sword.

She still remembered finding it. It had been in the same salon she had found that portrait of her grandmother Helena-

Her thoughts crashed to a stop like a carriage smashing into a wall. That- that couldn't be!

Not sure if it was panic stopping her from thinking straight, she tried to summon the image of the portrait to her mind. And utterly failed.

It had been years since she had looked at it and gone hunting in the archives for trails of family gone from the palace.But the recent parts of the family trees were showing too many gaps to hunt anyone down or puzzle anything together.

But she still remembered the eyes. The same eyes she had inherited from her father. The eyes she had noticed the witch currently harbouring her had.

She dropped back onto the bed. It couldn't be! That was impossible! Helena was a witch-!

Helena had said that her child  _ wasn't  _ magical. That her grandfather was the last full witch in her family. That she was in her sixties. But-!

She needed to find that salon. To read that letter again. To look at this portrait.

Taking a deep breath to stop the shaking and twisting the world seemed to do around her, Lucette got up, mapped out where she would need to go to reach the salon and only then cracked open the door to glimpse into the hallway.

Surroundings void of other people -how long had she spent in her bedroom?- she started moving through the palace, set on reaching her destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, looking at my notes were at the end of December now.  
> I made calculations the with Lucette being cursed six months after receiving Delora it would have been at the end of October roughly.  
> Just thought some readers may be interested in there. (Even if I am unsure if Angielle has named week days and months like we do, which is the reason why I am not mentioning any.)


	7. Chapter 05 - Revelations

The room was just as dusty as Lucette remembered it. Maybe it had even accumulated more dust, but she only could compare it to the pristinely clean hallway. And compared to that it was dusty, the air was stale and the windows so dirty that not even the bright moonlight provided much light.

Closing the door, she found herself in almost complete darkness. Leaning back against the wood, she waited for her eyes to get used to the darkness and after some minutes she was able to slowly recognize the shapes of the furniture.

There were still the memories of how she had searched the room back then, looking for clues and other signs of these relatives, but nothing had turned up. When the woman had left, she must have been very thorough about clearing everything out. Or someone had done it for her. The letter had been inside a folder so maybe it had simply been forgotten after being put inside.

With nothing left to search and no more trails to follow she had soon stopped to return to this room. It had been dusty after all. And she hadn't been able to stand the whispers in the hallway whenever she had searched the room out. It had been easier to simply stay in her bedroom.

In the dark the room looked very different, shadows hiding details and throwing off the depth perception.

But there was one thing she remembered about this room. The cupboard next to the door held a small lamp and matches.

It took her a bid to find both objects, but soon there was a soft glow emitting from the lit lamp, bathing the surroundings in dim light. It was enough to take a closer look at her surroundings and go through the different drawers to track down the letter she had found so many months ago.

And then she was looking at the ink on the yellow paper and traced the words, as she read them again, refreshing her memories of the content.  _ Helena, Atreus, Arianna, Richard, Aion, Mýrún, Jack, Alexander. _

Arianna had been dead when the letter was written and the second wife to Atreus. Atreus was Mýrún's father and Helena's grandfather, Mýrún Helena's aunt. Aion was a nephew to Alexander. Richard had been in the line of succession before him, so he was Alexander's brother, who she hadn't been able to find in the archives for some reason. Richard was married to Mýrún and Aion seemed to be their son.

It was a confusing set up and she was sure that she was missing too many names to write a proper family tree down, but it gave her a basic overview.

Helena -the one who had taken her in- had mentioned a grandfather, who was a witch. Did she mean this Atreus? Well, if they were the same, it wouldn't be unlikely…

Taking a deep breath, Lucette took the lamp, put it on a side table next to the portrait and stepped away to take a better look at the portrait.

It was almost eerie how much she… just looked the same. The same face, the same eyes, the hair pinned up differently. She remembered how surprised she had been back then that no one had ever mentioned her, but Helena had admitted that she was a witch and after the Great War…

Helena was her grandmother. Helena was her fraternal grandmother. Helena was her father's mother.

It was strange. No matter, how she put it, it didn't seem to make  _ sense! _

She had a grandmother! A living one! And no one had even  _ mentioned her!  _ Why had her father never mentioned his own-! Her thoughts froze up again as she remembered her father's opinion of witches. And hadn't Helena also mentioned how she had left when her son was so young that he wouldn't remember her? Did her father even  _ know _ that his own mother was a witch?

The utter silence in the room was welcome and bane at the same time. Nothing to distract her, to pull her thoughts away. Only she and the thoughts occupying her mind. Dropping onto a couch, caused dust to raise and a sneezing fit, which at least pulled her a bit back into reality.

What was she going to do now? Should she simply go back to the house and pretend she didn't know? Confront Helena? Stay away? But she was  _ family _ . Blood related family and she paid attention her father had never really bothered with-!

Her thoughts were a mess, circling without a pause but not coming to a result.

Lucette found herself pacing the room, sitting back down and pacing it again. She refilled the lamp, watched the light flicker and paced yet again. She should have gone back long ago, Helena would worry already, but now it was already too late to brush it off, she would need to tell her  _ something-! _

There was light in the room after the lamp went out again. Lucette starred at the window with a strange expression. Then she carefully cracked the window open, letting fresh cool air replace the stale one she had breathed the whole night.

The room was on the first floor and she got a pretty good view of the sky slowly lightening up in the distance. And she heard voices as well.

Closing the window quickly and quietly, she grabbed the letter -taking it with her would in any case be better than leaving it lying around- and left the room after checking the hallway. She should better leave before the servants were about. Which couldn't take long, if someone was already awake and talking. Being found out would only cause questions she wasn't even sure how to start to answer.

The hallways were still empty, which was a blessing at least. And she had completely forgotten that there were guards at the front gate.

Quickly she darted into a different and before the men could see her. Alright, how could she get out of here without suspicion?

If there was no way out, she would need to hide until it was a time when she was  _ supposed _ to be in the palace. Pondering her options, she slipped through a different door. There was a part of the palace gardens, which got opened to let petitioners and visiting nobles spend their time there.

She could mix into the crowd until the guards changed shifts. At least as soon as there was a crowd.

That at least went off without problems. No people were there yet, at least, so there was no one to hide from.

Sighing she kept herself in a small group of trees circling a bench and sat down. It was cold, she was tired, she hadn't slept all night and she was most likely to miss breakfast after having missed dinner already.

Maybe dozing off wasn't the best idea, but she was tired. She was tired and finally getting some rest...

A wisp of smoke startled her out if her drowsiness. She couldn't have been out of it for long. As much as she could see, the shadows hadn't moved and the sky was still grey as well.

And she was still alone. But the smoke was persistent. It didn't  _ smell _ like an open fire, but...

Getting up from the bench, she started trailing the smoke. It wasn't a strong smell, with a strong hue of dry herbs and a bit like spices.

Lucette passed a hedge and smashed into a person. A hand grabbed her shoulder and kept her up right. "Careful there-!"

Damn it... Again?

She wasn't sure who was more surprised, she or Mythros. Mythros, who was holding something she may have labeled a tobacco pipe, going from the smell, now that she could finally place it as something some visiting nobles tended to smoke.

It was just not looking like one. No big head piece, no curved mouthpiece, just a sleek and straight pipe with a metal like head and end instead of purely made from carved wood.

"Thank you, but I got my balance now. You may let go," Lucette got out calmly and Mythros let go as if he had gotten burned.

There was a short bout a silence as each party just looked at each other.

"The last time we talked, we got interrupted," Lucette noted, keeping her voice even, "You were about to tell me something?"

A confused blink and then his mind seemed to catch up with what she said.

"Yes. The reason why I accepted the task to play messenger for the request," he nodded, his expression smoothing into his permanently polite smile. "I accepted the request, because-"

"Mythros, about the reports you forwarded to me yesterday-"

Lucette wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel at her father suddenly rounding the corner and stepping into view, before freezing up at seeing her.

There was a short bout of uncomfortable silence.

"I was just about to leave. We may talk some other time, Sir Mythros.," Lucette threw in as none of the men seemed to be able to move. She turned to her father. " Your Majesty."

She left the scene before they reacted and not even the guards stopped her, only throwing her a very confused look as she passed them by.

Not daring to think about what had happened and what it may have looked like to the king, Lucette made her way to the store.

-oOo-

"Where were you!?" The exclamation wasn't quite shouted, but it came close. "Do you have any idea how worried I was!?" Helena was up from the counter and in front of her within a moment.

Lucette forced herself to not flinch at the cutting tone.

"I... forgot the time," she finally got out.

_ "The whole night? Where were you?" _

This time she did flinch. The letter seemed to burn in her pocket. Just like the rage building up inside her.

She was the crown princess and that woman had been in her life for only barely two months. "I don't need to explain myself to you!" she hissed.

"I spent the whole night worried sick about your antics! Not enough that the Lucis bearer is actively looking for you, do you have any idea about the other factions!? Do you even remember the thugs from the first evening!?"

This time she did flinch. For a matter of fact, she had. But then she hadn't spent the night outside...

"I was nowhere near any place were someone like that does have access to," she gritted out. She had been inside the palace after all.

"Then explain where you were!"

"Explain yourself then!"

Helena gave the yellowish paper of the letter a cold glare. Then she took it from where Lucette had slammed it onto the counter, unfolding it to take a look at the faded script.

The next moment her hand clenched into a fist. In the tense silence the sound of the paper wrinkling was uncomfortably loud.

"Is it true?" Lucette didn't know what she was expecting. Admission? A confession of some kind? A reaction at least,

Helena was quiet, seemingly frozen where she stood.

"Helena?"

"...you should leave." Her voice was quiet. Barely there. "Just... Just for today. Please."

Lucette felt like as if she had gotten slapped.

"I'll... be out of your way then," she replied, wondering, how she managed to keep her voice even.

The air outside was cold, just like before when she had entered the store. It burned inside her lungs like fire.

Outside of that, the day proceeded... normally.

Despite what had happened during the morning, the only change was that she wasn't in the store during the morning hours.

The only really bad thing was the fact that she was still utterly tired. The cold was dealt with as she warmed her hands on the cup of a warm drink and hunger was just as easily stilled.

But the tiredness left her grouchy and short tempered and unwilling to deal with idiotic nonsense. The only reason why she went to teach Emelaigne that day was a stubborn sense of duty and unwillingness to let others see her weakness.

These were the same reasons why she bit her tongue to keep herself from snarling at maids in the hallways and barely kept comments in check she  _ knew _ would make Emelaigne break out into tears.

The blonde girl at least was behaving, if only because she was able to recognize someone's bad mood and tried to do her best to not make it worse.

-oOo-

Helena was sitting in front of the fireplace staring into glowing embers, when Lucette entered the house, only the cats reacting to her arrival.

Stepping closer, she discovered the letter on the small table between the sofas, paper carefully smoothed out with no signs of the wrinkles it had obtained, a tea pot next to it.

Quietly Lucette sat down on the other sofa, filling herself a cup.

"How did you know?" Helena sounded tired when she finally broke the silence. "It... it can't have been the letter alone. There are more people than me bearing that name."

"There is a portrait. Where I found the letter. I found it a few years ago, but I didn't look too closely back then. I remembered when I retrieved something from my bedroom in the palace," Lucette replied quietly, petting the cat curled up on her lap. "Then I went to check if my memory was failing me."

There was another bout of silence. Lucette sipped some tea.

"I got to know Alexander by chance. I had been living with my parents in the capital for some time and they had opened their own tavern," the older woman finally started talking.

"We weren't living close to the palace. I was learning to sew during the day and helped them during the evening in the tavern. Young, pretty and utterly naive in some ways. Knights frequently visited in the evening and it wasn't uncommon that there were stragglers too drunk to get out we hauled off to the guard station. And one night my aunt and her husband witnessed me hauling Alexander out and told me I was man handling the second prince."

Lucette raised an unimpressed brow. "And you married... that?"

Helena chuckled, eyes sad and caught up in memories.

"At the beginning, I wasn't very impressed either, but for some reason he was really persistent. And having someone pursuing me like that was... complimenting in a way. And for months he looked at no one else. And after eighteen months I said yes to him courting me."

"But you split again," Lucette noted. "And you left father behind."

"Yes. I did," Helena said quietly. "At the beginning everything was alright. Mýrún and Richard were living in the palace as well and Mýrún was happy to help me with things I was struggling with. She had already a son of her own, Aion, who was a very... energetic and bright boy. Beware him getting bored. He would get curious first and then  _ innovative _ . A bad combination with him having magic."

Lucette frowned. "Both of his parents were magical then?"

"Yes. Richard was a half one from his father's first marriage. And Mýrún was a full-blooded one. Alexander was completely human. And just like me Mýrún had the yellow eyes, which paired with witch magic allow to perform healing, if you have the strength for it."

"If I needed to guess, that talent is rare. I think otherwise it would be further known," Lucette threw in, frowning. Healing had been mentioned in the letter.

"It is inherited from parent to child. If a child doesn't have the eyes, it's descendants won't have them ever. Hildyr didn't have them, but Genaro has, so you gained them ," Helena agreed, "Despite Genaro's blood being so thinned out that he didn't inherit the magic."

"And what does mother have to do with that?" Lucette watched Helena tense all of sudden, before she relaxed again.

"I'll get there later," the woman sighed. "After the wedding, I didn't live at the palace, but at a home a bit away. I didn't think any of it, it allowed me to avoid the courtiers and rumours and whispers. I didn't notice back then how much it... Isolated me. No connection to court, no allies for myself outside of family members and only learning what Alexander allowed me to learn. Young and naive and my head up in the clouds."

Helena paused again, sipping at her tea. "I knew, he was still drinking, but I didn't think any of it. I didn't like it, but I thought he was only drinking and nothing else. And when Aion was seven, his father abjected the throne to leave court behind. Alexander and I had been married for a few years at that point. And I moved into the palace with him, learning shortly after that I was pregnant."

Another bout of silence. Helena sipped more tea.

"Which was when I learned of the mistresses he had kept. He claimed it was due to the line of succession. We had been married for years and I had never conceived after all. He had never mentioned children before and I had felt too young to be a mother until shortly before the move," Helena stared into her tea, "I chose to believe his promise to never take a mistress again. I was hurt and felt humiliated and betrayed, but... I loved this man. And I hoped it would get better. It... took me some time to acknowledge that it wouldn't."

"You left."

"When your father was four. Alexander had never apologized for his string of mistresses. I had thought it my fault for not telling him that I was keeping myself from getting pregnant. That he would  _ stop now _ . But then I learned, he didn't. There was more to it, our relationship had crumbled for years at that point, but learning that fact... shoved me over the edge.

"And with no one in court on my side, family far away and no way that I could take my child, who was the crown prince and not holding a spark of magic, with me... Staying away was the best thing I could do. A few months later Alexander married one of his mistresses and I was completely gone from the minds of the members of the court."

Lucette was quiet for some time. "So, there was no one left or interested in confirming that you're father's mother," she concluded.

"And after the Witch Hunts and the Great War I had no wish to associate myself with court," Helena added. "And I hadn't been part of his life for decades at that point. I mourned it, cursed it and... moved on. The only time I entered the palace once more was shortly after Hildyr arrived. And meeting you was the first time I approached my remaining family members, as Aion, Mýrún and Aion's wife and children were slaughtered during the Witch Hunts. Only Richard and Atreus are still alive and they were... occupied during the last years."

Oh... So, she wouldn't have found anyone, even if she had managed to find more information on them. But still...

"You're my grandmother," Lucette finally said, testing the word out loud. "When I dyed my hair-"

"You look a lot less like your mother than you think,"Helena noted wryly. "It was very unexpected to see. And it's more than just the eyes."

"You mentioned mother when talking about me having the eyes. Why? Father didn't have any magic left in his blood," she finally asked. "And you tensed up, when I mentioned her."

Helena went silent again, refilling her tea and emptied half the cup, before putting it down and letting out a sigh. "Remembering me or not, I am going to have  _ words _ with that man!" She grumbled. "Lucette, do you know where your mother is from and why she came to the capital?"

It was a very strange question and Lucette frowned. "I... don't," she finally admitted.

"And if you needed to make a guess?"

Lucette pondered the whole thing again. "Mother had red hair and green eyes that's a trait associated with Brugantia... From the border region, if I needed to make a guess."

Helena nodded. "From the area along the foot of the mountain ranges to be more specific. Do you know why she came to the capital?"

"It... was around father's ball..." Lucette trailed off. Her parents had never gotten along. Not that she could remember. But why did her father agree to marry her mother then?

"I don't know," she admitted. "I can't even see a reason why he agreed to marry her, regarding how they never got along."

Helena let out a sigh. "Your mother came to the capital in response to the Witch Hunts. To demand justice for her subjects unjustly slain."

What? Why  _ her  _ subjects? If she remembered it right, the witches were the subjects if a Crystallum bearer-

"Mother wasn't a witch!" She got out somehow.  _ Mother would have told her! _ "She would have told me! I would know! I- She loved me!  _ No one else did- _ !"

Arms around her and warmth embraced her, pulling her close.

Breath. She just needed to breath. To keep breathing.

"Hush. I'm not saying, she didn't. But parents... want to be seen by their children in a specific way. And sometimes they lie to achieve that."

The hug was warm. Lucette couldn't remember the last time she had gotten hugged. But she could feel the warmth of the other person. An even heartbeat pulsing against her ear and fingers slowly combing through her hair.

No one had done that. Ever. Her mother had only told her a crown princess wasn't supposed to cry. Her father had never approached her. And she had never needed that comfort, she was  _ strong-! _

Arms tightened further and it was  _ warm _ and felt  _ save _ and she had wanted that for  _ so long-! _

Her eyes burned and she clenched them shut. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't! She was strong, like her mother had taught her! She was-!

Her thoughts muddled together in a strange mixture of feelings, thoughts and buried emotions.

Lucette clung to the warmth holding her and cried.

-oOo-

Waking up was bothersome. Especially when you were curled up under blankets and two cats were cuddled up against you as well, radiating additional warmth.

But Lucette knew that she needed to get up. Not only would she need to work the early hours in the store, but she was also thirsty, mouth and throat uncomfortably dry and scratchy.

It was an uncomfortable reminder of her lapse in control the prior evening. Thinking about what had happened was...she didn't know. Mother would think her pathetic, at least. Her mother,  _ who had lied. _ For years. And she couldn't figure out  _ why _ .

At least it explained why Helena was so sure that her curse _would_ _be broken_ at some point. She was a half-blood and within a few months would become eighteen, gaining access to power unmatched by any other witch.

And she would be able to erase curses at some point. She could make Fritz’s presence safe again.

All the information had accumulated to a big mess inside her head.

Helena was her grandmother.

Her mother had started a war.

She was going to be a witch.

She was going to be a Crystallum bearer, a position which had driven her mother insane, if she believed Helena.

Her father hated witches, had been forced to marry one and knew that his daughter would be one, watching witches tearing his precious kingdom apart. No wonder he hated her, only bothering to interact with her, when her own behavior interfered with his play-pretend-perfect-family after remarrying.

A painful clenching feeling inside her chest joined the building up headache inside her head.

Had she ever stood a chance against this kind of learned hate? Her father had always been distant, even pushing her away when she had tried to approach him, when she was younger. And then he had made his priorities clear after her mother's death, showing how everything was more important to him than his daughter.

At least she had a clear answer on that matter now. No matter what she had hoped...He was much happier without remembering her. Without looking at the living reminder of his first wife every day.

It couldn't have helped how similar she had grown to look like her mother.

One parent hating her and the other claiming to love her while lying about her own nature. Had her father lied as well by not telling her? Was it lying to not say something deliberately? She had never thought about asking, but why would she have?

Her head hurt. Her heart hurt. At least she knew that the pain in her throat was due to thirst.

Slowly sitting up, she winced at claws scratching her and tried to glare at the cat clinging to her chest. Blue eyes gave her a look of pure innocence and a furry head proceeded to nuzzle her face, second cat soon joining the first.

There was something utterly comforting about receiving this kind of unconditional affection. At least it was encouraging enough to get up and face another day, despite shocking and maybe painful information still floating around in her head.

Just getting dressed and sorting out her hair was a bit more complicated with two cats pawing at her hands and batting at hair strands. Not that she managed to get impatient as one ended up draped around her shoulders, warming her neck and the second one got carried on her arms downstairs to the kitchen, purring loudly all the way.

Helena was sitting on the kitchen table and only threw her a short glance, before looking away again.

The cat on her shoulders jumped down and proceeded to bother the brown-haired woman by demanding attention. It was awkward being around each other now. The prior evening had ended with her having an emotional breakdown and after somewhat calming down, she had been exhausted enough to have valid excuse to not continue that talk. She hadn't known how to go further from that point anyway.

Not that she did now.

The cats being noisy today was a godsend, it cut down on the silence at least a bit.

The silence was bad, but speaking may be even worse, especially with her throat as dry as it was. She couldn't remember ever losing control like that outside the day where she had been told her mother was dead.

Why had no one told her the truth after she had died?

Lucette only noticed that she had asked the question out loud when she looked up and found Helena looking at her.

"I can't answer that one," the woman sighed. "I am not even sure that the people outside the palace know that you didn't know. You made pretty clear that you valued your mother over everyone else after all. And you're going to inherit the Crystallum after all."

"As quiet as the servants always were when talking about her, not even mentioning her by name around me, they knew," Lucette grumbled and grimaced at her scratchy throat. And blinked at the tea getting pushed in front of her.

"Drink it. It'll help. And you're right, the servants would have known. But their number is small in comparison to the people living in the city and they also tend to be housed inside the palace, limiting their interactions with people outside. And they may not even care enough to tell others in the first place," Helena allowed.

The conversation died again and silence returned. Lucette concentrated back on the cat, which had curled up on her lap, ears and tail twitching.

"You know, I listened around a bit after your mother died. And from what I learned you knew at least something your mother didn't want you to know, resulting in her erasing the memories from your mind. It was the reason why Waltz rebelled against his teacher."

Lucette's head snapped up at hearing the name, which summoned the face of a dark-haired boy with red eyes to her mind together with the uncomfortable feeling of him being familiar and still almost completely unknown to her.

"Everything alright?" Helena was giving her a worried look.

"There is this street performer, who has that name. But he is just a boy," Lucette finally answered. "He is too young to be that person…right? Black hair, red eyes."

"Taking the age out of the description, it does sound like Waltz," Helena replied, "But I never talked to him personally. He rebelling is also what spread the knowledge of Hildyr's meddling with your memories outside the palace. People were curious about the reason why the obedient apprentice was looking for allies against Hildyr. But then she had also gone through a row of apprentices until finding him. Not that she had kept most of them longer than a few weeks. She was…specific about what kind of apprentice she wanted."

It was grating hearing her mother being described liked that. Sure, she had never been warm towards Lucette, but hearing about her treatment of other people bluntly like that was… scathing. "Waltz knew me then? He seemed to think I should recognize him. Or at least know his name," she tried to change the topic.

"I don't know," Helena let out a sigh. "I didn't learn that much. You may have more luck asking him about that."

There was another break in the conversation. The atmosphere was pressing down on her uncomfortably and Lucette forced herself to not chew on her lips. The nervous energy building up inside her was ridiculous. She had known Helena for almost two months now and the revelation of her being her grandmother hadn't changed the woman's behaviour.

But it had changed Lucette's perception. The witch had turned from a strict, fair and friendly host into a family member, making her much more conscious about her own actions towards her.

"I need to get going to open the store," the witch suddenly announced. "Take the morning free and try to get your head clear."

"I… may need longer than a single day for that," Lucette admitted. But a single day would be a start. Helena only gave her a calm smile, then the door closed behind her and Lucette was alone.

-oOo-

She was supposed to know him. Lucette watched the boy from afar, who was currently entertaining a group of people with small tricks, while she was sitting on a bench a bit further away.

She was supposed to know him, but outside of this uncanny feeling of familiarity with nothing to base it on, and a few short conversations, there was nothing she could consciously remember about him.

And forcing herself away from the topic about her newly discovered relations wasn't helping either, because she knew she was trying to distract herself, causing her to think about  _ that _ topic all over again.

With just as much progress.

"Looking quite troubled there," a voice coming from next to her said and she almost jerked around in surprise. She still turned around though, blinking in surprise at the source of the voice.

It was the beautiful woman she had first seen in the toy store and later in Helena's. And she had seated herself right next to Lucette.

"I don't think that is any of your business," she replied coolly. Lucette didn't even know her and the fact that the woman was noisy enough to put her nose into other people's business, wasn't endearing her to Lucette either. Set on ignoring her, she turned away again.

"Isn't it? Not even when you're looking troubled while watching a friend of mine, princess?"

For a moment she wasn't sure if she wanted to punch that woman or not. Taking everything into account what had happened during the last days, she settled for a short grimace and giving in to the urge to bury her face in her hands.

After taking a deep breath, she looked back up and the woman straight into the face.

"Fairy, witch or cursed?" She asked, taking in the slightly uncomfortable expression on the woman's face, which was replaced by a confused blink. It seemed neither the reaction nor the question had been expected.

She used the short silence to inspect the woman a bit closer. Red hair and green eyes, just like her mother. But the red was darker and richer, like maple leaves in autumn to her mother's copper and the eyes were a shade darker as well.

The woman caught herself quickly enough, though. "Cursed, but I don't think that is the topic here," she replied, smile back in place. "I'm much more curious about what Waltz did to make someone uncomfortable in his presence. People tend to be quite relaxed around him."

"And I am not interested in starting some kind of rumour," she shot back, glaring at the woman.

"Then you just need to tell everything about it! So that there aren't any misunderstandings, I mean," was the gleeful reply.

Lucette raised an unimpressed brow at the woman. "I could also stand by the opinion that it is none of your business."

"Oh, dear, you wouldn't believe the scenarios, I can come up with, girl..."

"Worse reactions than someone taking notice of your interest in a not even teenaged boy?" Lucette enjoyed the way the woman's smile froze.

"Point taken," she coughed, glancing around and starting to smirk again. "I'll behave. But I may get my answers despite your opinion on the matter."

Lucette followed her gaze and felt herself freeze when the boy approached her.

Fleeing would be unbecoming. It wouldn't  _ solve _ anything either. And she needed to get  _ something _ done at least. Needed to get the pile of issues ranging from her curse to Fritz curse to making sure Emelaigne wasn't a public embarrassment.

Talking about problem solving, she needed to get her own curse issue solved, because having caught a glimpse of the exact timetable, the ball was before her birthday, even if only shortly before, and some nobles may cause trouble, if they saw their plans tumble into oblivion due to the person in direct line of succession not being a girl that just wanted everyone to get along and to make as many friends as possible. And breaking it just short of the ball may tempt people to push the role of the princess choosing a future husband onto her, knowing she was going to wield magic soon and not caring about the grudge she would be holding.

"Waltz, what did you do that this one is so uncomfortable around you?" the woman promptly asked and Lucette was at least grateful that she had waited and kept the words low enough until the boy was close enough that no one could easily overhear the conversation without being obvious about it.

"Me? I thought it was something you did Karma. You squabble with Rumpel often enough," the boy shot back. "Which was the reason why Parfait sent you to get things for the potions instead of helping out in the inn. Something you did not do yet, if I interpret the lack of bags right."

"I was just on my way when I saw this one watching you and was wondering what was going on," Karma said sighing. "But she didn't want to talk with me about it."

"I still have the steady opinion that it is none of your business," Lucette threw in mood slowly worsening. She didn't know what she had thought would be happening, if she searched Waltz out, but getting a noisy redhead involved hadn't been on her list.

"Karma, go and buy the stuff Parfait needs, or Delora will find some way to make you regret slacking off," Waltz sighed. "Remember what happened with the broom when you and Rumpel wouldn't stop fighting?"

Something like horror flitted over the face of the woman and the next moment she was gone.

Whatever happened, Lucette was already happy to have not been anywhere near it, when it had gone down.

"You're not inducing much trust into the safety of this place," she got out, managing to keep her voice neutral.

"Everyone was stressed then and their fighting made everything worse. And even they can crack a smile about it, when the other one isn't around. They just don't want to go through it again," Waltz's smile was lopsided and not reaching his eyes. He also looked painfully hopeful, seemingly searching for something she couldn't figure out. It faded a bit when she wasn't saying anything.

"Karma said, you were here for some time?" he finally broke the uncomfortable silence, voice a tad more unsure.

"I…" Lucette trailed off for a moment, trying to find a good point how to breach that topic, "I heard about…why you got cursed. And how mother was involved in that."

There. She had said it. It was out and she could see his eyes widen in surprise, his mouth opening soundlessly and closing again as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Maybe we should move somewhere else?" Waltz suggested after a moment, finally having found his voice again. "If we stay here, the children may want for me to participate in their games soon."

Lucette nodded and got up.

The first few minutes were walked in silence.

"How much do you remember?" he asked, moving to sit on a low wall, only roughly wiping the snow of. After a short moment of hesitation she sat down next to him.

"Nothing. I learned of something else and mother, being who she was, tied into it. You got mentioned in the conversation and you also…matched the description," Lucette forced herself to look at him and not at the passing by people.

"You…really have problems looking at me?" He sounded incredible hurt and Lucette forced herself to not clench her hands, if only to avoid burying her nails into her palms.

"You seem familiar, but I can't-!" she broke off, forcing herself to take a deep breath. She could feel her heart racing in her chest.

"I have the feeling that I know you. That you are familiar, but I just can't say  _ why! _ There is nothing to base that feeling on, nothing that gives me any reason to  _ trust _ you! And sometimes you say something and your voices echoes something else in my head and I have no idea why I am even talking to you!"

Her head was hurting again and she wanted to bury her face in her hands and forget the world even existed.

But she had chosen to leave the house. She would have needed to leave it anyway to get to the palace for the lessons. They would have covered enough material soon that the lessons would only be happening every second day, making space for the normal tutoring to take up more of Emelaigne's time again.

And she wasn't so weak that she needed to hide from her problems. And hiding away with cats wouldn't help her, no matter how much she wanted that to be the only thing filling her day.

"…I am sorry. I didn't know that was why you were trying to avoid me," Waltz voice was just short of a whisper. "We knew each other before the rebellion. Before Hildyr erased your memories and I was so happy to see you again. I didn't think…I thought you would either recognize me somehow, due to the spell losing its grip, or simply think of me as a stranger and get to know me again."

When Lucette turned to look at him, his eyes were sad and he wasn't looking at her. "What do you want to do?" he finally asked and she turned away from him, before he could look her in the eyes.

"I-I don't know," she said after a moment. "I am still trying to wrap my head around some stuff and the whole thing is a bit of a… mess."

There was a breathless laugh escaping the boy. "That is an understatement," he replied wryly. "She left quite the mess behind for others to clean up. I thought that she had at least cast that spell properly. Spells affecting the mind are always tricky and I hoped that we at least knew the extend in which it affected you."

Lucette nodded slowly. Her heartbeat had calmed some.

"You taught me how to sew, you know," his voice was calm and somehow the calmness somehow settled her racing thoughts a bit.

"I did? I only remember mother telling me that it was a waste of my time," she commented quietly.

"That was after the- after she made you forget," Waltz said. "She was my teacher, but I always wanted some kind of hobby, something to do beyond learning and working magic. I loved coming up with stories and when I met you, you were bored and I told you a story to keep you from calling for your mother. And then you started playing the different scenes out with your dolls."

Lucette bit her lip, listening to the description of their first meeting. "Was that the reason why you made lilies appear when I was in town with Emelaigne and Rod? Because you already knew that they-"

"-were your favourites? Yes. You always loved that trick most and I hoped you would recognize it."

A white flower appeared in the boy's hand and he offered it to her. After a short moment, she took it, letting her fingertip brush over the soft petals.

Then she got up. "I need to leave for the palace," she got out. It was a little lie. There was still quite a bit of time left, but…

While the conversation had at least cleared most of the uncanniness his presence brought, there was still an uncertainty flickering inside her. Mostly about how she had behaved towards him before and if he expected her to behave in a way similar to before -which she still didn't remember- or different.

"Thank you. For talking with me." Waltz smiled and it looked a bit more genuine. It still didn't light up his eyes, but some of the sadness seemed to have left at least. "If it helps, I think you're one of the strongest people I know. People that knew me before I was cursed had trouble looking and talking to me as well. And you still came to talk, despite not even knowing what made you uncomfortable."

Lucette felt her throat tightening for a moment. Not trusting her voice, she simply nodded and left.


	8. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter is done. Another Interlude to catch the thoughts of a few other people. Hope you all enjoy it.^^

Waltz watched his little star walk away, heart heavy, but also hopeful. She may not remember him, not as he had hoped she would, but if Hildyr had been sloppy with that spell, then there may be more she had missed. Or maybe the spell hadn't been anchored properly and had started to unravel.

No matter what it was, it gave him hope. Just like the hope she had given him back then, when their interactions had been the only thing lighting up his life.

But it still hurt as well. She couldn't look at him, couldn't be comfortable around him, because her heart said one thing and the head couldn't back it up.

It made him curse Hildyr so much more. And made him wonder, if it had been intentional. A safeguard, in case he approached her again, to make sure his little star would never trust him again.

And with that single decision to search him out, she had already defied her mother, choosing to investigate this split between mind and instinct, instead of taking the easy way out. The new knowledge about her mother may have played a role there as well.

The whole development made Waltz wonder what kind of topic had brought it up. But wrecking his head about that wasn't going to help him at all.

And despite everything the talk had been a relief, giving him a clear view of the problem. The missing memories. It had been a problem all along. It would have been much easier, if she had never forgotten him in the first place. He could have kept her company, helping her adjust to how her world changed and given her a contrast to how the people in town had treated her when her father had taken her out shortly after her mother died.

But she had her memories erased. She didn't remember him. Maybe he would have approached her, if he hadn't been cursed. Maybe he would have approached her, if Hildyr hadn't erased her memories, cursed or not.

But with her memories missing and mourning her mother, she would have been guarded against a stranger. And she would have demanded answers about why she didn't remember him.

And with the kingdom just recovering from the great war, the king had ordered to keep everything quiet around her, if only to keep the voices demanding the witch queen's lineage to be ended away from her.

A decision, which had also kept Waltz away. A witch in the palace just after the great war wouldn't have gone over well, no matter on which side he had fought, especially when he had still been known as Hildyr's apprentice.

Sometimes he wondered what had happened to Myth after the big confrontation between Hildyr and Parfait. The last time he had seen the other witch had been when the passage they had been fighting to a stalemate had carved in between them, a side effect of the bearers clashing. The stalemate had surprised Waltz, but then he had never been interested in adapting spells for fighting and Myth had strived to close the gap in power via spells. Had prepared mean traps as well.

Waltz had been on the stable side, but his victory had only held long enough until he noticed that he had been locked onto the side with his prior mentor, who had been seriously wounded, yes, but still a force to be reckoned with. Still strong enough to curse him at least.

And a few spells had turned the passage into labyrinth they had lost her trail in quickly. On the other side of the cave in there had been no sign of the other apprentice.

Waltz wasn't sure, if he wanted the other one to be alive. But there had been no sign of him or Hildyr since then and after a week of searching they had finally declared Hildyr and him dead and the rebuilding efforts had begun.

And Waltz had left the palace and the memories of his apprenticeship and a dear friend not even remembering him behind.

And now he had finally gotten the first sign of this friend remembering him. She wasn't as she had been back then. Years had passed after all. She hadn't demanded a repeated performance of the lily trick, hadn't eagerly asked him for stories. But she hadn't brushed off the lily either, just as she hadn't brushed off his company, as uncomfortable as it had made her.

Heart heavy, but hopeful, he stopped his aimless wandering and turned towards the Marchen.

Delora wouldn't be happy about that development. She had wanted to give Lucette that information after some deconditioning. After getting her used to people not listening to her because she was a princess or jumping at her orders because it was their job.

Parfait would be happy about not needing to lie about that at least. The fairy didn't like omissions or lies.

When he arrived at the Marchen, Karma had already finished his errand. And seemingly also mentioned his meeting with Lucette. 

Delora and Parfait were awaiting him.

-oOo-

Delora had expected problems, when she had cursed the princess. Finding her had been a task, which had proved to be one, something she hadn't expected. And while she was found now, she still wasn't sheltered at the Marchen, something she was quite unhappy about.

But she should have expected the distrust. Not that she could work on that with the girl far out of reach. And as it was, there were at least a few signs of the princess showing signs of not being utterly hopeless.

While she hadn't managed to gain a good work yet, from what they knew, she had shown enough worry for her knight to inform him about the Marchen to get help for himself. And while having Alcaster's son around was… problematic, it was doable. The guy was behaving himself quite well, but the initial animosity Garlan and Jurien had showed him, had kept him from giving his princess a clean bill on the safety of this place. Which had been a pity, but nothing that was changeable, at this point. And until they knew the nature of this curse he was under; they also couldn't give him the reasons for their silence about the knights being here and discharged, especially with the gaps in memory he reported, which mostly happened at night.

Rod was also giving them reports from the few encounters he had with her and while he hadn't admitted his involvement with them directly to her, Fritz had seen him around and not been surprised about him being there, telling them that Lucette had strongly suspected the prince's involvement with them after a comment he had made.

Two months in, not a single good work, but interacting with people on some kind of basis and having already learned about Hildyr's nature, if Waltz report was correct.

And revealing yet another one of the late Queen's messes left behind for them to clean up. Curse that woman and her actions! Killing children strangers to her was one thing, but intentionally warping her own daughter's perception like that!? 

Another matter where they had underestimated that woman.

At least the princess seemed to have built up some tentative trust to the person, she was staying with.

They had tried to collect some further information on her, but the results had been pathetically small. The woman had a shop and lived in a better off area of the city. And had done so for long enough that no one was sure for how long she had been there, seemingly having kept to herself and her routine for the most part during the last years. Maybe even decades.

A fact, which pointed to a witch, because Parfait had questioned the fairies up and down and there hadn't been a hint of anyone knowing her.

And while it wasn't certain knowledge, they weren't comfortable about getting Parfait near enough that she could say for sure. Delora knew better than going anywhere near the princess. She didn't want to imagine the reaction of the girl, if she noticed them.

Their initial plans had gotten wrecked, but up to now they didn't need to run damage control. The princess had learned way earlier than expected the truth about her mother and what she was going to be. Which also explained the unusual behaviour Karma had described, pulling the worry about that to other topics.

Delora wished she could talk with her, if only to explain the curse in person. And to get a better grasp on her current mental state. It didn't seem like she got influenced by magic, but they hadn't any certain information about that seamstress. And for someone with magic to be completely unknown in the magical community there needed to be reasons.

Hopefully, they could convince the knight soon that the Marchen was save enough to visit for the princess.

-oOo-

Fritz felt strangely hollow while watching the princess -he could call her Lucette now, an unexpected boon- enter the palace. He could approach her, greet her like always, inquire about her day and well-being.

Like always. But it wasn't like always.

There were rumours fluttering all over the place about the garden meeting the king had walked in to. Too early for a visit, she had only left in the morning, just after the gates got opened and no one had seen her arrive.

The maids had paid extra attention while cleaning Sir Mythros' room that day, looking for anything to feed the gossip mill. And had found nothing. And no one had seen her enter the gardens either. And there were ways to enter the palace, if someone opened a door that was supposed to be locked.

Fritz knew the princess and knew that she wouldn't do something that irresponsible. It had taken him years to get her to open up to him. 

She had been cursed for a bit more than two months now and her interactions with Mythros had only started roughly a month ago. And there had been no indication at all that she liked anyone like that be it before or after getting cursed.

But the knight also remembered the whispers about the advisor's unusual behaviour. How he showed for him untypical interest in the new tutor of princess Emelaigne after seeing her the first time among other things, even taking a task way under his standing to search her out.

He hadn't expected that the royals and himself would be the only ones from her uncursed life to interact with her. He had been around her for years, watched how people interacted with her. He had never thought how the change of roles may affect these interactions past her family.

Mythros had never shown interest in anyone before as much as he knew. No lover, no rumours of one, he couldn't even remember ever running into him outside the palace or seeing him talking with someone about anything outside business.

And if the princess hadn't told him to get lost yet -and he trusted her that she would if she felt like it- he couldn't-! 

...couldn't what? Interrogate the man about his intentions? A regular knight -talented but still a regular knight- against the king's advisor? He would lose everything he had gained after becoming a knight.

Who was he to throw accusations at the man, just because the man had eyes? It wasn't like the advisor was harassing her. The princess would tell him if she was in danger. She trusted him to investigate the inn, because she tried to avoid danger and he was happy that he didn't need to worry about her walking blindly into an unknown place.

Fritz just wished he knew why Garlan and Jurien were so hostile towards him. He had thought them good friends until they had left. He had been happy to see them again.

Their changed behaviour worried him. His curse worried him. Mythros' attention on the princess worried him.

The last was weighting the most on his mood somehow, maybe because it was the newest development. Being the only person the princess had been able to tolerate, had been a privilege. He wasn't sure how he felt about losing that position.

-oOo-

Emelaigne was not sure if she was happy or not about the etiquette tutoring getting cut back on now that they had caught up enough that the ball wouldn't be a political failure. There was still much she didn't know, but she should be able to go through the ball by now without embarrassing herself.

But with the lessons not happening as often anymore, there was time again for other lessons and Emelaigne wasn't looking forward to these.

Etiquette had become bearable with Lucette answering her questions -not always fitting the topic- and not making her listen to lectures and expecting her to know everything right away. Only repeated failures with no change to the mistakes weren't tolerated.

Emelaigne had noticed that Lucette and Rod weren't getting along, but she didn't know why. She would like them to get along, but she had no idea what had even started the dislike.

She liked Lucette. The girl was not outright friendly, sure, but since she had become a princess there always seemed to be some kind of wall between herself and other people. There were expectations and opinions regarding her behaviour and the people she interacted with. Some of her friends had started avoiding her, others were unsure how to act around her making interactions awkward and yet others had demanded of her to share her new wealth.

Lucette was… strangely different to these. She followed protocol, but didn't hide her opinion. Blunt in an almost rude way, but only stating her own opinion of things and not to hurt. She had met people before, who were trying to hurt others with their words, especially since moving into the palace and meeting nobles not approving of her.

What she didn't understand was why she seemed so unwilling to show what she liked and whatnot. She had been quite taken with Snowball when she had found the kitten, only to deny it when she noticed them watching the affection, she had given the cat.

Something about that bothered Emelaigne, but she didn't dare to ask or to investigate. Lucette valued her privacy and with the rumours already flying around about her and Mythros -who was tight-lipped about it, much to many people's disappointment- her mood had been the worst she had ever seen.

Inviting Snowball to the lesson had been a good decision on that matter. It had done wonders for the redhead's mood. The kitten antics had derailed the lessons for a bit, but Lucette had been lenient enough regarding their prior progress.

Emelaigne would love to know more about the younger girl. She only knew the barebones. Lucette was an only child, her parents hadn't gotten along, she wasn't living with them anymore, her mother had been strict, she liked cats and sewing. It really wasn't much.

Well, and Fritz knew her from somewhere and she seemed a lot opener to him than anyone else Lucette had seen her around. If she hadn't said that there was nothing going on between them…

The blond girl felt a bit bad about wishing it stayed that way. It was one thing to read about romances and dream how they may be the same for yourself. Having someone you admire around and the person looking at you like they looked at everyone else was… tough. As friendly as he was, she wished she could speak and talk with him more often, but he was either on duty or outside the castle somewhere.

At least he seemed to have forgotten that embarrassing meeting with Viorica.


	9. Chapter 06 - Visiting the Inn

It was useless to deny that the revelations hadn't changed the situation between Lucette and Helena. Lucette found herself critically watching her own behaviour towards the woman and also how she acted around people, interest renewed with the new knowledge.

At the same time, she wasn't sure how she _should_ behave towards the other woman, who was not only a witch -alright, she had known that one before- but also the only relative by blood she had ever met outside her parents.

The princess found herself looking at her reflection trying to figure out if there was some similarities at all.

The eyes were a dead giveaway, but otherwise… it had been four years since her mother had died. And while there was a portrait of her in the palace, it was a painting and not a living image of her.

Inspecting her own memory for images of her mother's face to compare what she had inherited outside the hair yielded the startling realisation that the picture had faded in her mind.

She had lived with her mother for thirteen years and still time had worn away the small details of her mother's face she had never paid close attention to. Had always taken for granted, knowing that her mother would be around for years to come.

The face of her mother had faded and while there was a portrait of her, Lucette had never been able to properly look at it, keenly feeling the loss of the one parent who had cared about her.

There was still so much to think about, so much to figure out and many problems to solve.

And it seemed she wouldn't get around being proactive towards a matter she severely disliked.

"I'm going to question Fritz about the safety of this inn," she said out loud into the silence of the store during a lull between customers. "He is mostly worried about the changed opinion two prior acquaintances have of him and his investigation only unearthed that the change happened before the meet the inhabitants of this inn."

"Fritz is a Leverton, isn't he?" Helena pondered out loud, busy adjusting some pins on a seam. "Alcaster always seemed a bit too forcefully for me, never able to back down from a competition. At least he tended to have the skill to back his arrogance up. Not that he always had."

"You know him? I thought you left the palace life back then," Lucette commented unable to reign in her curiosity.

The woman stilled for a moment, then let out a sight. "I am always surprised by how some relations get easily forgotten. When I married, some relatives were not happy about it. Mostly because it moved the attention of nobles onto them. While my cousin was unhappy enough with me to mostly avoid talking with me, she wasn't above marrying one of Alexander's friends," she started explaining after a moment. "Where I left, she stayed. But then her husband hadn't been a cheating bastard. She died during the Great War when Hildyr cleaned out Alexander's supporters, who may move against her. I hadn't talked with her in over a decade at that point."

"Fritz and I are related?" The question escaped her before she could stop it.

Helena nodded frowning, clearly thinking something over. "Cousins, to be more specific. 3rd cousin, I think, as you're sharing great-great-grandparents."

Lucette leaned back in her seat and pondered that. "That letter mentioned other relatives. What about them?" 

That letter. That was what they had started to call it. Not further specification was needed. Everyone listening in and not knowing, had no business knowing it in the first place. Despite everything the content was… sensitive, especially with it mentioning how the current monarch also had a witch lineage. Witches were barely talked about outside of their curses and the Great War.

"Give me a moment," Helena murmured, taking a piece of paper and waving her over.

Curiously, Lucette watched her drawing the family tree.

"Your great-grandfather Michael was married two times, Alexander was from his second marriage. Richard was married before him and a half-witch. He married the witch Mýrún, who was the daughter of a witch called Arianna and her husband Atreus, who is also a full blooded witch," Helena drew the lines and placed the names along them and Lucette took everything in.

"And where are you in this constellation?" she asked, eyes following the branches slowly building up. 

"From Atreus’ first marriage, to a human woman called Felicia. She died before I was born, of a sickness. She was my grandmother. My father only had a sister, who had Jasmine, who had Alcaster. Alexander married me. Before I had your father, Richard and Mýrún had a boy named Aion…" Helena trailed off, looking at the name with a strange expression on her face.

Lucette glanced at her and wondered what her grandmother was thinking.

"I didn't see Aion again, after they moved away," Helena finally said and Lucette watched her drawing another line on the paper. "Mýrún sent me letters till the end and I always wrote back."

She stopped again, quill tapping onto the paper, leaving ink stains behind. "He married. Had children himself. A boy and a pair of twin girls. The letters were full of their antics." The wry tone in her voice was unfitting the strange, sad expression on her face. The princess watched as the names Lavinia, Lillian and Myron were added to the tree.

"I never met any of them. Only Richard and Atreus are left of that branch. The others died in the Hunts when humans torched their home."

Lucette eyed the six names. Six relatives, who had gotten murdered. Six deaths pushing her mother to insanity to start a war to answer crimes her grandfather had been unwilling to stop and bring justice for.

"Do you think Alexander hoped Richard would die during the Hunts? So that there would be no one left to lay claim to the throne outside of him, I mean," she finally said out loud.

She couldn't think of another reason.

"I would like to say 'no'. I hope the answer is no. I hope that it isn't just a leftover streak from a naive young girl believing the best of her husband. But Alexander loved power. Not being king, but the power it gave him. The tasks were a necessary evil in his opinion," Helena sighed. "He loved alcohol as well. I never allowed myself to get drunk like he did, but there are times, I wished otherwise."

Lucette moved back to deal with her work.

The silence settled between them until the next customer came in.

-oOo-

"Did you know that we're related?" was the first thing out of her mouth when Lucette met Fritz two days later to visit the Marchen together.

Her knight almost stumbled into a streetlight at the question. "I- what?"

Lucette took a look at his surprised and shocked expression and nodded slowly. "I'll take that as a no, then," she noted. "I learned that your grandmother on your father's side and my grandmother on my father's side were cousins. We're related, just not through the royal line."

Fritz gave her a dazed look and nodded without saying a word. She let him. She had spent more than enough time laying awake in the evenings following that revelation to at least get a bit used to the idea.

She liked having her knight around and now she had an excuse to keep him around, no matter what happened.

But maybe she should have told him after going to this inn, instead of throwing that at him now. But why shouldn't she have told him? If she remembered right, his father was his only other relative and she could still remember how she had felt finding that letter just after her mother had died, learning that there where more relatives than just her father.

The downside of the surprise she had dropped onto him was that they spent most of their walk in silence, with him working his way through the information and she letting him.

The inn turned out to be a two floored building whose visitors were involved with magic in some way. In a way she was curious how they would have reacted, if her hair was still red and in the side braid, necklace visible. 

As it was some people gave her curious looks, but didn't seem to recognize her. Maybe it was better that way. After not needing to listen to whispers (rumours not accounted as whispers) it was one of the few things she didn't look forward returning to.

There was a young girl roughly her age manning the bar, giving Fritz a friendly wave when she saw him.

"Fritz! Good to see you again. Do you want anything to drink?" She greeted them with a welcoming smile. Then she only seemed to notice Lucette, who only nodded a greeting to her.

"Not at the moment, Annice. Maybe later," the knight smiled back. "Do you know where Delora and Parfait are?"

Annice gave them a curious look. "Rumpel is treating Parfait at the moment, upstairs. Delora is-" "-right here, Annice. Knight, I see you brought someone along."

It was a bit eerie how much Delora looked like her doll self. Back when Lucette had gotten cursed, she had been sleepy and it had been dark so she hadn't gotten a good look at the witch. Now in daylight she looked so exactly like the doll Lucette had cherished for six months that it almost hurt.

Delora motioned them to follow her and they moved away from the loud serving room into a more private room looking like some kind of common room, with multiple sofas in a sitting group around a table.

Delora seated herself on a sofa and after a moment of hesitation Lucette seated herself opposite of the witch. Fritz kept standing next to her seat, not interfering with the direct line of sight between the two, but able to quickly get in the way of any possible attack.

If the woman noticed, she didn't comment on it, instead giving Lucette a closer look. There was a bout of silence as they watched another.

While Lucette wanted to ask questions, she didn't want to show how strongly the missing knowledge had started gnawing at her. What worried her most was some kind of safeguard that would keep her from inheriting the Crystallum and breaking the curse that way, unlikely as Helena said it was. They simply didn't know their intentions.

"Princess. We hoped you would arrive here at some point," Delora finally said. "Waltz told us about what you… learned."

"About how my curse interacts with other curses? About why mother left her home at the borders and came to the capital initially? Or what happened when my grandfather turned out to be missing either the control or the will to reign his subjects in?" Lucette shot back coolly. "In what kind of way has that to do with that?" She asked pulling the necklace out of her collar and letting the single glass pendant dangle in the air from it.

"You not knowing about these things played a role in our initial plans," the witch admitted, eyeing the sparkling piece of glass. "We had planned to find you as soon as possible after you got cursed. I deemed it an educational curse. I assure you we didn't intend to leave you on the streets or to let any harm come to you after you were found." 

"And what did you plan for then? Why even get involved at all?" Lucette glared at the woman.

"You're going to be the next bearer of the Tenebrarum, princess. And after your mother and with your attitude people were worried. We thought we may be able to… change your view of people. If only by managing to get you to remember what she made you forget and letting you know how she was to others," the woman sighed.

"And how exactly does this-" Lucette held up the necklace again "-play into it?"

"The curse is the Cinderella curse. In the tale a girl withstood hardship brought upon her by her step family and stayed kind and good," a new voice came from the door and a sickly looking woman entered the room.

"Parfait, don't cut these sessions short," Delora sighted. "I know, they take longer than that. Princess, this is Parfait, the current bearer of the Lucis."

Lucette eyed the woman, keeping her face neutral. Clothed in bright pastel colours, the fairy was the complete opposite of Delora, hair light pink, eyes blue and looking utterly exhausted.

"Welcome in the Marchen, princess," the fairy greeted her smiling. "It's good to see you in good health. We were quite worried, when you disappeared on us."

"Not that it was your fault in the first place," she shot back coolly, watching the fairy flinch at the fact thrown her way.

"That attitude had us worried, princess," Delora got involved again. "The curse was supposed to show you that there are other ways of dealing with things outside of lashing out."

"And how exactly? By turning into a doormat and simply doing what I am told? I'm sure some people in court would have a field day at that," Lucette glared at the witch.

"It's a children's tale I used as a template, princess," the witch replied coldly back. "It's supposed to show punishment for the wicked and reward for the well-behaved, originally." 

"In mother's opinion I was quite well-behaved. And my manners during functions were flawless," she bit out, taking some grim satisfaction from the flinch of the fairy and of the knuckles of the witch whitened.

Delira took a deep breath, maybe to calm herself, maybe for some other reason. "The necklace is a measurement. It only has one slipper now. Earn the three pieces of the second one and the curse breaks," there was a strange edge in the witch's voice now. "Three good deeds and the curse breaks."

She could feel her thoughts freeze to a stop and run furiously at the same time, trying to gain all the implications stuffed into the term good deeds.

"What is he doing here again?"

The sudden question from a woman pulled Lucette out of her thoughts and to yet another new arrival. There was a blond woman with short hair standing in the doorway watching Fritz with cold eyes. Fritz stared back, stony expression on his face.

"Jurien-" Delora started, but Fritz was already replying himself: "I'm standing right here, you can ask me directly, if you want to know it so urgently that you feel the need to interrupt a meeting."

"And why exactly should we trust what you have to say, with how elusive your curse is?" Another man stepped next to the woman. Lucette took in their physical statue and both wearing swords and let Fritz move slightly further in front of her.

"Garlan, Jurien, please!" Parfait threw in, clearly hoping to keep everything from escalating.

"He keeps coming back, nothing to show for his curse outside of memory gaps, no one can prove," Jurien glared. "There is no reason to trust him!"

"And you're unwilling to tell me what changed your mind on me so much after you left the palace, so we're kind of even there," her knight shot back.

Something about the whole situation was surreal to Lucette. Fritz had always been someone people liked. And she was sure she had seen these two before in the palace, serving as knights and Fritz always seemed to get along with fellow knights despite who his father was.

She glanced around. Delora seemed to be gaining a headache, but also didn't seem surprised about this conversation. Parfait reminded her of Emelaigne at the moment, just wanting everyone to get along.

"As if you're trustworthy enough for that information," Garlan threw in.

"And why shouldn't he be?" Lucette finally pulled attention to herself. "A loyal bodyguard for the last three years, no slights in his record and exceptional sword skills. Not a bad resume. Better than two discharged knights."

They would be in uniform, if they were still serving, with a sigil of their rank. She watched both freeze and Fritz seemed pretty unhappy about stepping slightly sideways and giving them a clear look of her.

"You let him bring someone else here?" the woman exclaimed and Lucette resisted the urge to snarl. The curse making them forget would be the only reason why she was going to tolerate this kind of behaviour towards her.

"We hoped for quite some time that he would get trust us enough to allow his charge to come here," Delora's voice cut through the air.

"Why should we trust anyone he brings here?" Garlan retorted, hand tightening on his undrawn sword.

"Why should I trust anyone connected with the witch who cursed me?" The snarled response escaped the princess, glaring back, meeting the gaze of the knight head on.

Unflinching and cold, she kept the unyielding glare on him. He was nothing outside of an opponent currently with enough indication of being willing to harm her. Something Fritz had noticed as well, body tense and ready to spring into action.

"You're Hildyr's daughter?" The female knight exclaimed hand twitching down to her sword.

"Jurien! You know that the curse is intended to be an educational one!" Parfait seemed utterly terrified about how things were turning out.

"She brought Alcaster's leash dog with her-!"

The sound of Lucette's palm slapping on the table cut off the excuse the woman tried to come up with.

"Even if you're unwilling to respect him as a knight," she snarled out coolly. "You will respect him _as a member of my family._ "

Shocked expressions turned to her. "Cousin in the 3rd degree, to be more specific, as his grandmother was the cousin to my father's mother, the first wife of the late king Alexander. Which should be easy enough to check." A royal family tree was almost a public matter after all, if only so nobles could check possible political advantages.

She could see both of the knights gritting their teeth. Fritz stepped fully back in front of her. There was a short bout of silence.

"Fritz, we're leaving," Lucette finally declared, breaking the uneasy atmosphere.

Her knight just nodded. And kept himself between herself and the knights at all time until they were outside, passing by Waltz and Karma on the way out, both looking utterly surprised at seeing her, but she was past them before they could even get out a greeting.

The sun was already setting when they stepped into the streets. The fresh snow was crunching under their steps as they walked in silence for a few minutes.

"Lucette. Are planning to go back there?" Her knight finally broke the silence.

"No." The glass pendant seemed to burn on her skin.

"Good."

They didn't talk at all for the remaining way to Helena's house.

-oOo-

"It didn't go well, I assume from your your behaviour," Helena said into the silence only broken by the chimes on a small ball one cat was batting around and the cackling fire in the fireplace.

The voice startled Lucette out of her thoughts and broke the absently minded strokes she had administered to the second cat curled up on her lap.

"It went… not too bad until the former knights turned up. They really dislike Fritz and it escalated enough that we left and I don't bother thinking about returning," she admitted. "Especially alone, regarding how openly they were thinking about going at me with swords for only being affiliated with him."

But maybe she had left to early after all the information she had gotten was vague at best. If her memories served her right, Rod had also said something about good deeds just before she had found Snowball. Back then she hadn't bothered with listening to it, it was no secret after all that Rod disliked her.

"Thinking about it, it may be easier to sabotage the ball so it happens after my birthday. How would you determine a 'Good Deed'? The description sounds vague at best," the princess added after a short silence.

Helena frowned, putting her sewing project onto her lap and leaning back in her seat. "Vague is one way to call it. It's like saying clothes are made from fabric. There are so many aspects to it that it isn't a description at all," the witch tapped her index finger on the fabric, sending the cat toy away from the fire. "It plays a lot into definitions of good and evil. But I think we can at least assume it's a good deed by Delora's definition. Which makes it possible that you can't just go out and do good, because you would be doing it not for others, but to break your own curse."

Yes, sabotaging the ball did sound a lot more likely than running into three different situations by chance.

"What would even count as a good deed?" Lucette grumbled under her breath and pulled out the necklace to glare at it.

"Ah, the old questions of defining 'good' and 'evil'. Don't be upset, if you don't get a clear answer on that one, my dear. The definition may shift at moments notice and differ from person to person. One man's good is another's evil," Helena gave her a wry smile. "Humans deemed the Hunts doing good. A preventative action. The ones thinking otherwise were low in number and not daring to speak up, just like the fairies. The hunted called it evil and unjust. Especially with the number of children getting killed, many too young to even have thought about doing evil in the first place."

Lucette stilled, thinking back at Helena's sad expression at naming these nieces and nephew she had never gotten to know. Would she have gotten to know them at some point, if they hadn't died? Was she supposed to ask about that?

"I never heard of Atreus and Richard before finding that letter," she commented instead, looking down onto her lap when the cat shifted, rolling onto its back and starting to bat at the pendant.

"I'm not surprised," the witch grimaced. "No one not corrupted really wants to pull the attention of a corrupted witch. They tend to be fickle beings. Your mother gave you affection, but she also didn't like you leaving the role she had assigned to you. Other people tended to receive… re-educations about what their roles were supposed to be. Her not knowing that you exist was the biggest protection you could have. A normal witch against a bearer, especially a trained one? A fly has more chance against a fly swatter."

"Mother left you alone," Lucette threw in.

"Yes. But I am almost powerless. And I was still watched. I sent Richard and Atreus a warning to avoid the capital at all costs and only then approached her. A legitimate witch claim to the throne? Hildyr could have just as easily married Richard after pulling him out of hiding," Helena grimaced. "Or kill him off, if she wanted the healing more or preferred an easier to control husband and child. The only luck was that Alexander had removed most mentions of his brother during his reign."

It sounded utterly foreign hearing these descriptions of her mother. Sure, she had been strict, her affections getting rarer the older she got, but Lucette had never seen anything indicating that there was more to her.

Or could she simply not remember it?

It was a gnawing thought. It was keeping her awake, trying to pinpoint holes in her memories. But she had been small and most days following the same general pattern and she had no way of pointing what had faded due to time and what had gotten erased by magic.

"What are they like?" she got out, hoping for a distraction from the unending cycle of thoughts in her head, haunting her. "Richard and Atreus, I mean."

"Jaded. I can't really call it anything else," Helena gave her a sad look. "Both were married, Atreus even two times and both should still be holed up somewhere tending to their own small coven. Maybe with another generation coming up for training and teaching. Instead they lost it in a single night to the Hunts.

"They went from racing around grandchildren and great-grandchildren to hunting down their killers, knowing their life was in shambles. And that left its traces on them. If Hildyr hadn't killed Alexander? They may have gone to the capital and slit his throat themselves."

There was a bout of silence following that statement. Lucette had known about the Hunts, but hearing it like that made it… personal. Knowing that it had killed relatives of hers. Killed people that may have been there where her father simply hadn't been…

"Outside of that… Loyal. A bit overprotective of what's left. From the letters I received Atreus may even have been in the capital once, after Hildyr died, to take a look at you. But he was pretty evasive on that. The man tends to be able to get everywhere, I tell you. Both are way too good at sneaking. Sometimes they sent stuff they think may helpful for me. Pattern examples, dyes for fabric."

"He would have needed to go into the palace to see me," Lucette commented with a raised brow.

"And Richard was a prince, who married his daughter. If there was a way in, he found it," Helena gave her a smile. "Like I said. Way too good at sneaking. And fighting. The reason why they didn't get corrupted was due to using blades to kill instead of magic. They used magic to subdue, sure, but the kill itself? Always dealt by the blade."

"Is that where the blade came from?" The comment just slipped out and Helena gave her a surprised look. "I found it in the room where the letter is from. It has a mechanism that can extend and retract the blade. I hid it in my bedroom. I went to get it and that was when I remembered the painting."

Helena laughed. "Sounds like on of Richard's toys. He went insane looking for it back then. Finally gave up and made himself a new one.was pretty miffed about it. Aion may have hidden it wherever you found it."

There was another pause in the conversation and Lucette shook the pendant slightly, watching the cat trying to catch it.

"Speaking of them, I may need to add another room to the house. I thought about adding it at the back, so the door opens into this room." It was such a random comment that Lucette looked up in confusion.

Helena raised a brow at her. "People forgot about you princess, but all are witches here. And both were worried when they noticed that no one was remembering you. I received a message that both are on the way to the capital and I can't let them room with you after all."

A strange feeling rose inside her and for some reason her eyes were burning and feeling hot.

Lucette felt a tug on her necklace, the chain digging into her skin and she looked at the cat, claws hooked into the chain. It mewed at her and grabbed her hand between its paws, as she freed the chain, nuzzling it.

The feeling strengthened and she grabbed the cat properly, moving it to settle on her arms and buried her face in the soft fur as the cat went to nuzzle her face instead.

After some time Helena broke the silence. She didn't ask a question, didn't comment on what Lucette was doing.

Instead a soft voice speaking foreign words filled the air. Lucette listened to the foreign song, the tune low, slow and soft.

She didn't notice when she fell asleep.

-oOo-

The weather had gotten even colder. After having been forced to watch her own breath puff in front of her with every exhale, while being miserably cold, Lucette wasn't looking forward to the even longer walk to the palace. The icy cold air was easily creeping through her own cloak. As much as she liked her own work, she despised it for not keeping her warm. And the steadily falling snow was also not encouraging.

"Helena, what would I need for a real coat?" she finally asked, turning away from the store window.

"Much money," was the wry reply. "I work with fabrics. A real coat needs much more than that. Leather among other things and I don't know how to work with that."

Grimacing, Lucette tried to calculate how much she had saved up between being a store help and tutoring. "How much would it cost?"

"Oh, these prices, I don't know from the top of my head. But I do know that you should have enough, looking at how you don't throw your money at everything you want," Helena wasn't even looking away from her work. Lucette was a bit envious about how fast the woman could go about each stage of her work.

She bit her lip, trying to pinpoint if she had seen a store selling anything like coats. But then she hadn't been looking for one.

"Go a bit earlier and get what you need," the woman threw her a smile. "There is no reason for you to be freezing. And the weather may even get colder. And wetter as well, if we're unlucky."

Alright, so she not only needed a better coat, but maybe also better boots.

How frustrating.

They worked away in silence for some time, Lucette mostly ignoring the customers coming in and out. There was no need to invite attention. At some point Helena first started humming and quietly singing to herself. Lucette couldn't understand the words, but found herself enjoying the tune at least.

The atmosphere was relaxing. She almost missed the chime of the bell at the entrance. The bright sound rung through the store and was accompanied by a bright "Good morning!" coming from Emelaigne.

Pretty late for a good morning, regarding that it was almost noon. "Princess," Lucette nodded to the girl. Spending time around the girl had become less jarring over the last few weeks. Maybe it was because the forced tries of interacting with each other had been replaced by meetings following a mostly set structure defined by rules Lucette at least knew. The long hours of absence from her also gave the cursed princess time to unwind from each meeting.

"Lucette. How often do I need to tell you to call me by my name?" the blonde girl frowned with a disappointed expression.

"Until you get tired of it at least," Lucette commented neutrally, folding together the short, whose repairs she had just finished. She had really no wish to throw the rules she still kept enforcing on their meetings out of the window. People still didn't make sense.

"Think of it as a preventative measure, princess," she finally said as the girl pouted at her. "Using someone's first name indicates familiarity. If it is known that you tend to address people informally and you meet someone, you don't like for some reason, you may slip into formal speech patterns, clearly showing that dislike. Which can become problematic, if it is someone, whose backing you need for something. Especially, if it happens in front of witnesses. Better leave unclear, who you and who not until it becomes necessary, or some nobles will start accusing you of favoritism."

"Will also keep overeager boys from getting too close," Helena threw in from the side. "Some men seem to lose any sense at the possibility of a pretty girl becoming familiar with them. With can cause quite some disastrous rumours."

"Like the ones about Lucette's meeting with Mythros in the gardens, during early morning hours?"

Lucette wished she could hunt down whoever thought it necessary to spread that piece of information around. Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Emelaigne promptly continued talking. "They are already becoming less common. I guess, because both of you didn't do anything to fuel them. I think most people were pretty disappointed about that, there isn't much know about Mythros despite him working in the palace for a few years now."

They would see for how long these things persisted.

"Oh, and mother told me to tell you that the lessons this evening aren't going to happen. I am too much behind in another subject and getting an extra session there." The blond girl grimaced at the thought of it.

"And then they left you into town to bring the message?" Lucette was admittedly unimpressed.

"Well…" Emelaigne fidgeted a bit and Lucette felt a headache building up. Especially when she noticed that there were no guards accompanying the other girl.

"One reason, why I shouldn't haul you off to the next guard, before people panic?" she sighed.

"I won't be gone for long!" Emelaigne protested. "As big as the gardens are, I wanted to be out of the palace for a bit!"

"You. Are the Crown Princess. The first in the line of inheritance-" At least as people knew at the moment "-and each knight at the palace, is sworn in to keep the royal family protected from threats. Be it murder attempts or being taken _hostage_."

Lucette had made it pretty easy for the knights as she had even barely ventured out of the protective walls of the main building of the palace into the gardens after her mother died and as such never left the tight security of the palace grounds until the visit yo town her father ordered.

"By sneaking out, you either tell them, you don't need them, insulting their vows, or that they can't protect you anyways, practically telling them that their skills are so bad, they shouldn't even bother to try, insulting all the hours they put into training," Lucette ended the lecture in a cold tone. Emelaigne seemed to shrink under her cold glare.

Looking back at her own life, Lucette assumed she had gotten Fritz as a personal guard, just in case she ever wanted to sneak out, so she would have a guide and basic protection, which had also been why Fritz hadn't been in the normal duty schedule of knights standing guard, so him going with her wouldn't result in an unmanned post.

Maybe her father had very simply underestimated her distaste of going outside

Emelaigne seemed to never have thought about the implications of leaving the knights behind like that and at least looked properly chastised.

"Alright, lecture over," Helena clapped her hands from her position. "Lucette, get the girl to the next guard station and collect some guards. Afterwards you can go and buy the things you want. I bet the princess can show you some stores regarding how she keeps walking the city.. Just come back roughly at the time of the end of your normal break."

Nodding, Lucette grabbed her things and Emelaigne perked up at the mention of not being sent straight back to the palace.

"Oh, I know some good ones, we can check out," the girl brightened up considerably within a few moments.

The proclaimed chaperone snatched her by wrist, before the blonde girl could go and search out the stores she had in mind. "Guards first," Lucette stopped her, leaving no room for discussion. "There is a station not far from here."

Lucette wasn't sure what the guards thought of her after seeing her physically pulling the princess over to the station to inform them about the situation. Not that she had much time thinking about it, as the blonde pulled her to one store to the next, trying to find everything she seemed to think Lucette needed.

She established a right to veto suggestions and rejected more than one overly cute knick-knack Emelaigne tried to convince her to get, much to the princess disappointment.

Somehow she still ended up exchanging the long skirt for pants. Even trying to recall what had happened in that store didn't give her a clear recollection of what happened, but she was mostly sure it had been about the edge of the skirt getting caught in the zipper of the new boots. But she did get the coat that she needed.

And bundled up in the fur lined coat, fox fur scarf coming with it and white fur earmuffs and gloves, her mood and patience rose enough to let herself get pulled along back to the station. The messenger, which had been sent to the palace to inform them about where their princess had disappeared to, had returned with a carriage to take her back.

With the carriage waiting already it didn't take more than five minutes from saying goodbye to watching the horses starting to move and pulling it out of sight.

Lucette left the station behind and went to get something to eat.

-oOo-

Cats could be a menace. Either because they wanted attention or because they wanted food. Or booth. Lucette managed to ignore the furballs until most of her meal was eaten. The scrawniest ones had left when she hadn't been moved by their pleading looks, others had waited until most of the meat pie had been gone.

And now there was only a monster of cat left. Almost double the size of still almost kitten Snowball and also a lot bigger than Velvet and Rose. The only reason why Lucette wasn't feeling threatened by the cat was how the other people treated it: They ignored the oversized cat.

The long light and dark brown patterned fur was well groomed as well, the coat rich indicating an owner, who fed it regularly.

As it was, unflinching yellow eyes were still watching her as she chew and swallowed the last bite and then showed the empty palms to the cat.

The cat didn't mew, didn't flinch and when she looked away for a moment, it was suddenly next to her on the bench and inspecting her for crumbs, long fur tickling her and causing her to sneeze. The sound caused it to jump away from her.

It gave her an insulted look and then turned away, tail held high to walk away from her as if to show her how insulting her behaviour was. It kept up the walk for exactly ten meters. Then it crouched down, was still for a moment, just to shot forward.

The curses Mythros let out upon landing in the snow as the cat tripped him up successfully were impressive. When he pushed himself back up, he glared at the cat, who was crouching next to his face. "I'll figure out, how you keep getting out," he grumbled lowly, getting back, "And I'll cement the opening shut!"

"Your cat?" Lucette commented, taking in, how he froze, relaxed and seemed to resign to the situation.

"Princess. Yes, this one is mine. Or at least chose me as his food and shelter source. Call names are 'Bane', 'Menace' and whatever fits, depending the situation," he glared at the cat, which started grooming itself, like the discussion wasn't happening.

"And what's his name?" she asked amused, "And how did he end up that big?"

"Secret of the world. He was such a tiny kitten. Smaller than the one of the princess you babysat that morning. His official name is Diablos. Not that he listens to it."

Just to prove the human wrong, the cat stopped grooming and looked at the man at the sound of the name. Her father's advisor glared. "You just cleared out your food bowl. And I know you can hunt! There are enough feathers floating around!"

Lucette wouldn't say that Emelaigne needed babysitting, but it was pretty difficult to keep her attention on something for longer than a few minutes.

The cat strutted off, snubbing its human as well now, leaving them alone. Lucette watched it disappear in the hedge surrounding the small park she was in currently. No wonder he had no problem with Snowball. That cat was throwing up the question who was pet and who was owner.

"Why do you keep feeding him, if he is that bad mannered?" she asked curiously.

He grumbled something under his breath before answering out loud: "Still better behaved then some people I need to deal with. And he's a cat. I still don't know how he gets in and out, the hell I am going to risk my furniture like that. And he is still _my_ cat. And he _never_ claws or bites."

Sounded good enough, everything considered. Lucette nodded absently. "Well, at least we may finally able to have this other conversation-" she started and was promptly interrupted by a cheerful: "There you are, Lucette! I _really_ need to talk with you about something!"

Karma was strolling towards her, the picture of ethereal beauty of fiery red among a snow scene, mischievous smirk on her face.

Despite the clearly good mood of the woman, the princess found herself distrustful. The memories of the last interaction she had with the people from the Marchen was still vivid in her mind and she had no wish to have a similar scene in public.

Not that she could see the knights causing it anywhere.

Mythros just raised a brow at the approaching woman. "An acquaintance of yours?" he asked, not sounding very impressed at getting interrupted, yet again, before they could do more than breach the topic.

"A persistent one," she agreed.

"Oh, don't be like that! I heard from Rod what happened this morning and thought, and I caught the most interesting gossip about you manhandling the princess~!" Karma was way too happy about that topic. "Oh, is that the man the other rumours were about?"

Mythros looked like he had bitten into a lemon at the remainder of these and with a "I'm going to catch Diablos, before he exterminates the local bird life." retreated from the meeting, nodding a goodbye to Lucette and completely ignoring Karma.

The woman seemed pretty surprised at that. "You know, normally they at least acknowledge my existence," she commented, a strange tone in her voice. "But I wasn't lying, when I said that there is something I want to talk with you about. Need to talk with you about. It is pretty important."

Ominous. "I am not going back to that inn," she said coolly. Especially not without her knight, who she had told that she wasn't going back.

"I am not asking of you to," the woman was quick to reassure. "But your knight is not around here, so I thought it safe enough to at least tell you the reason for the animosity. Just walk with me for a bit."

"I need to get back to the store anyway," she admitted unhappily. It was still information on the enemy's position. She would need to judge how trustworthy it was later.

There was a hint of relief on Karma's face. "Jurien and Garlan were knights for years," she started. "And they were friendly with your knight back then."

"Fritz mentioned as much. He couldn't tell what had caused their change. One of the reasons why he didn't trust the inn," she agreed.

They rounded a group of bushes and Lucette raised a brow at Mythros glaring up a tree. A moment later Diablos dropped down onto him, all affectionate oversized cat. From the missing flailing that wasn't the first time it had happened either. The cat curled up on his arms and let itself be carried away.

They walked on. "They came upon a bout of information by chance," Karma continued. "Condemning one, of a person in a higher position. They chose to bring it to the king's attention and were discharged."

Lucette frowned. "Was it investigated?" If there was something going on and proof had been found…

"No. The king had a very clear opinion on the accused person. And what you said may also be a reason for that."

Her frown deepened. How was that connected with Fritz? If he had been with them when they had come across the information, he would have pushed for an investigation at least, if only a discreet one, his father was the leader of the knights after all.

But what had she said that it explained- "I told you, Fritz and I are related." The information was forming in her head. "They called him _Alcaster's_ dog."

"If they had known about the relation, they may have simply brought the prove up for investigation," Karma confirmed. "As it is now, the proof has been destroyed and the man became much more careful."

Lucette thought back to all the letters Fritz was handing out for his father. He couldn't be involved. She wouldn't get to keep him, even if he was a cousin, if he was involved.

Fritz had recurring gaps in his memory.

The cold feel was settling in her stomach. A biting gnaw, joining the one about her inability to make sure which gaps in her memory were natural.

She would need to be careful of _Fritz_. The thought was so stupid, so utterly ridiculous-!

The cold inside her choked her, blocking her throat from forming any sound.

Her father should have looked at the proof. People lied all the time. Her mother had lied to her for _years_. The investigation may have damaged Alcaster's name, but it would have proven guilt or innocence.

You couldn't trust anyone.

Maybe she could let Fritz look into the reason they got discharged. If he found something, he could also look into it. But he slept in the same house as Alcaster every night. It may not be safe for him to do that.

She bit Karma goodbye and entered the store.

_What was Fritz curse?_

She couldn't do anything as long as she didn't know what Fritz kept forgetting. Or maybe she just needed to track down the witch who had cursed him. If there was no connection between Alcaster and the curse, it may be safe to tell him anyway.

So another question was, if he had a reason to get his son cursed. And she couldn't think of one.

Her thoughts were still circling inside her head hours later, when she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, cats curled up against her.

Her dreams were strange and distorted, mixing up meetings, places and persons. She woke up, cats gone, heart racing, remembering yellow cat eyes seemingly staring into her soul, staring at her from her own reflection.

_"Princess. Yes, this one is mine."_

Princess. 

Mythros had called her 'princess'. And she hadn't noticed.

When morning arrived, she had a slight fever and Helena sent her back to bed to rest.


	10. Chapter 07 - New Arrivals

A few days passed and nothing really seemed to happen. Lucette managed to somewhat sort her mind out, even if she didn't know what to do about the accusations against Alcaster, that Mythros seemed to remember her or Fritz' curse.

She hadn't told Helena about these new developments either. First the woman had been away, trusting that Lucette would rest without her around -which she had, cuddling the cats- and when she had been better two days later, she had been roped into helping to arrange the first things for the construction of the new rooms.

Which Lucette thought questionable to do during winter. 

"We're not building it right away," Helena had waved off. "Just doing the first measurements and calculating materials needed. Preparing a few things. The heavy lifting -magical and otherwise- I leave to Atreus and Richard."

Lucette had just nodded along, taken a few more measurements and wrote them on the paper she was holding.

Another strange habit having started to develop within a few days were the meetings she had with Fritz in town, whenever she wasn't busy in the palace. She hadn't met Mythros again, in any case, saving her one headache at least.

She let her newfound cousin lead her around and show her places she hadn't seen before. From other markets, to bakeries and also some window shopping.

These days were surprisingly quiet.

They avoided areas where Waltz did his performances and stayed away from the general direction of the Marchen.

Lucette hadn't told Fritz about what Karma had told her. He highly respected his father and Alcaster was known for being harsh and unyielding, but not as a criminal or for having done anything questionable. It would have been much easier if her father had simply done that investigation, if only quietly.

Now that she had heard the accusations, she couldn't unhear them and the possibilities of what he could be doing kept coming up in her mind, whenever they turned corners away from performances or walked past a few knights, wearing the symbol of the order.

Fritz didn't seem to know anything. He kept chattering about what she was missing going on in the palace. The palace cat causing something to fall over, Emelaigne being swept up in lessons -Lucette was dreading the catching up she was going to need to do- and the palace being an anthill in preparation of the ball, despite the event still being months away.

It was known already that there was going to be a ball, but the official announcement was still missing. But it couldn't be long anymore, because official invitations needed to be sent out and replies needed time to arrive as well.

Then there were arrangements for guest rooms. Lucette doubted that there was a shortage of rooms, but they needed to be assigned, checked for damage and resupplied if necessary. Then there were calculations necessary for the amount of food needed to be kept available and she doubted that all would leave again the very next day.

A ball like that didn't just attract men interested in becoming part of the royal family. It also attracted a great number of girls looking for a husband. There was just one the princess could choose, after all. And men and women wouldn't arrive alone either. There would be family members, chaperones and servants accompanying them.

Lucette was hoping the date was past her birthday, a chance that rose the longer the announcement didn't happen. And fearing it at the same time. The ball was for when the Crown Princess was of age after all. Which she would be at that point. But if it was before, people may demand that Emelaigne stayed the first in line of succession, especially if the lined up marriage gave the chosen party an edge.

She had never really thought about her own marriage. She had also never doubted that she would be married at some point as first in line of succession and for years being the only one in that line.

And marriage was also no fairytale always ending well. Helena telling her of divorce being possible even to monarchs was calming, in a strange way. She would just need to choose in a way that it didn't offend too many people if she decided to split.

At least Fritz wasn't with her today. She appreciated his company, but he would also try to cheer her up and she _needed_ to think about these things.

"Lucette!"

Her thoughts got disrupted, as someone called out her name. "Princess," she greeted the blonde girl with a nod, taking in the knights dutifully trailing her. Good, she knew better than to sneak off then.

She hadn't seen the girl since the shopping tour a bit over a week ago, due to falling sick and Emelaigne than getting swamped with other kinds of lessons she needed to catch up on.

"It's good to see you well again," the girl smiled. "So it wasn't anything serious?"

"Just a strong reaction to the weather," she waved off. "May have been overdue to get that new coat. Caught up to the lessons enough, I assume, looking how you're back in town?"

Emelaigne nodded happily and proceeded to chatter on about all these things that had gotten covered in her lessons and Lucette let her. It would help the girl to keep remembering it and she got to follow her own thoughts for a bit longer.

And then suddenly the knights were a bit behind them and her stepsister edged a bit closer to her. "So… I heard you and Fritz are out in town often?" she asked quietly and Lucette wanted to sigh.

"Yes. I discovered that we're cousins and we spent some time getting to know each other. My grandmother mentioned it," she replied neutrally. If she was that interested in him, she should just act on it! Well, who knew what the ball would be like-

"Grandmother!?" At least the exclamation was not shouted. Lucette doubted that even the knights had heard her properly.

"Yes, Helena. I thought I had mentioned it before…" Lucette knew she hadn't. She had just learned herself pretty recently, after all. But otherwise, Emelaigne may question, why she had never mentioned it before.

"But she looks so _young!_ " Emelaigne blinked in confusion. "We're talking about the same woman, right? The seamstress?"

"Some kind of leftover from faded magic ancestry a few generations back. I was really surprised myself, when I saw her again recently. She hadn't changed at all." In comparison to the portrait, she really hadn't.

A confused blink and the girl nodded slowly.

Then she quickly changed topics again, now that she had her answer about Lucette spending time with Fritz.

Lucette let herself be pulled along for a little while longer, watching her stepsister a bit. She genuinely disliked being a princess. She had always distrusted the girl back before she had been cursed, believing the whole thing to be an act as she clung to her commoner roots, but why should she pretend with a commoner that was no threat to her position?

Maybe she wouldn't need to worry about Emelaigne complaining about no longer being Crown Princess. The girl may even be happy about having more free time again.

"You know, I kind of wanted to ask you for a favour," the blonde girl finally said after gushing over a plushy in a store window.

"Really," Lucette commented calmly. "What is it?"

"Well, they started with the dancing lessons. And Rod tends to be my partner. But I… would like to have another one there to learn with?"

The black haired girl stilled, pondering that. She knew, how to dance. She even had regularly sessions to keep the skill up every month until two years after her mother had died. If she remembered correctly, the tutor had moved away. She had never asked for a replacement, happy to be rid of that lesson, she had deemed useless.

And the tutor had been a slimy asshole anyway.

"I learned to dance some time ago," she answered instead. "But I didn't practice in some time."

There was something like relief on the girls face. "I would be really thankful? I think, I would learn better if I saw someone else doing the steps, but the tutor rejects showing me the female steps and only tells me how to move."

"Normally, the steps are taught between the eighth and fourteenth year. You may want to ask for a child tutor instead. Or ask your mother. She should know the steps as well."

There was a frown on the girl's face. "The problem is that I am supposed to be an adult. Mother is too busy to spend much time teaching me. She tries, but her breaks aren't big enough. Father is also always busy. I would like to solve at least something partly by myself, without involving them," she mumbled. "And I thought bringing someone else to a lesson would be less problematic than another change of tutors."

Well, she had a point there. "I propose that you keep taking the lessons alone and you show what you already can do when we have time at the end of the lessons," she rejected the offer. "We can go to an empty room with more open space for that, if necessary. I don't think it would be good to just invite myself to a lesson like that."

Emelaigne didn't look happy, rather she looked disappointed. "Aw. I hoped, we could spend more time together."

No, thank you. Lucette was happy to not spend too much time with the normally bubbly girl. She just needed her space.

"How is Snowball, by the way? Still causing havoc?" she changed the topic instead.

"Not so much anymore. He explored everything and found a few favourite spots to sun himself," she grinned, then frowned. "But Alcaster thinks him a pest. Mythros on the other hand seems to like him."

"He may just like how different the cat is to Diablos," Lucette shrugged. "I mean, Diablos is more than twice his size. And while being much fluffier not even half as playful or cuddly."

"Mythros has a cat?"

"Ran into him tracking it down a few days ago, before I got sick. It begged for scraps. I'm not sure I would call Diablos a housecat, though."

"Father is really awkward about Snowball. He doesn't seem to know what to do when Snowball decides his lap is the best place to be."

The conversation derailed to cats until they parted ways.

-oOo-

"I'm… not sure what to say," Lucette said with a raised brow at the performance.

It wasn't that the steps were inaccurate. But Emelaigne seemed to have no idea how the steps were supposed to connect with each other. Or the proper rhythm to them.

"I assume the tutor makes you practice one motion each lesson? Is there a clockwork or anything providing an even pace?" She asked instead.

It wouldn't be a bad teaching method if Emelaigne had already down the basics and just needed refinement. But for a beginner it wasn't a really good thing.

"Yes to the first, no to the latter," Emelaigne answered depressed. "It's that bad, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't say bad-" she wasn't even lying there. The blonde girl was trying. It showed. But she hadn't learned to have a rhythm in the movements, making it uneven and awkward to look at.

"You need to practice sequences of moves," she said instead. "The basic step and how to move into the moves you're practicing." She could still remember the lessons spent only doing the basics steps to different speeds. Had it been fun? She couldn't remember… "And to some kind of rhythm, so you get a feeling how to move evenly."

Emelaigne nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you! It's always much easier if I know what to work at."

It was surprising how easily her mood could be restored. Lucette watched as the smile faded a bit. "Uhm, could you show me the steps anyway? Mother tried to show me, but her dress covered most of the movements."

There was a hopeful expression on her face and Lucette let out a sigh. She had not wanted to shorten her skirt. The gap between boot and skirt would be cold and if she made it longer, it would easily start collecting dirt. And so she was still wearing pants.

"The basic steps without the turns are very uncomplicated," she said. "Backwards, sideways, stop. Forwards, sideways, stop."

It was a bit strange doing these motions without partner or music. Lucette ignored the feeling.

"There tend to be turns danced, but it builds on these steps." There was a focused look on her stepsisters face, as she copied the placement carefully.

Just to flinch as Lucette started to tap out an even rhythm on a side table. "Always groups of three, princess. Backwards, sideways, stop. Forwards, sideways, stop. How you step is just as important. You end up with closed legs and heels on the ground."

A few minutes passed like that, not too much time, but the interruption was inevitably, looking at how official lessons were already over.

"Emelaigne, dinner is ready soon-."

Lucette wasn't sure who was more surprised. Herself or Ophelia. "Your highness," she greeted the queen properly, showing nothing of her surprise.

"Mother," the blonde girl smiled. "Lucette agreed to help me with the dancing, after etiquette lessons."

"Really, how nice of her," Ophelia smiled at them. "Dancing can be so much fun. A pity Genaro has so little free time. You think about stopping to step on your brother's feet then?"

"Mum!" There was an embarrassed expression on her stepsisters face. "You know I am not doing that intentionally!"

It was strange, watching them interact. It was a bit like she and Helena interacted with each other and nothing like the interactions with her own mother.

"Yes dear, it isn't as if Rod is complaining," another voice sounded and Lucette felt herself freeze.

Her father stepped through the door, Mythros trailing behind him, polite and calm smile on his face as he watched the royal family interact.

Lucette had been relieved when she hadn't run into him on the way into the palace. She still wasn't sure what to think of him. 

Did he remember her and was that the reason for his strange behaviour?

If he did, why did he remember her? A curse may be hidden, Fritz curse was pretty elusive as well and just knowing wouldn't cause yourself to shout it out loud that you were cursed. But Helena was a witch and until she had told Lucette, she hadn't even noticed. And it was also doubtful that a fairy would be hiding… Or he had found paperwork with her name. There was no way the curse had just incarnated every proof that she existed. Her room was still there after all.

But if he remembered, why not tell her? But then he _had_ tried to get to speak to her alone. They were just always getting interrupted.

"Your majesty," she greeted her father, shutting the thoughts away. This wasn't the place to think about these things.

"Lucette," he smiled at her and there was a painful pang in her chest. "It's nice to see Emelaigne making new friends."

Why did they keep insisting on that term? Friends were always pictured as people unable to part and able to spend an endless amount of time together. Emelaigne was way too bubbly for that in Lucette's opinion.

"And it is really helpful seeing it performed," Emelaigne chirped up. "You both looked really elegant during the wedding."

"What do you think, dear? Do we have the time?" Ophelia smiled.

Genaro's smile faded. "Not at the moment. I still have a meeting," he sighed. "But I think, I could make some after dinner."

Emelaigne deflated a bit and perked right back up, as her father continued. "But I am sure Mythros will be able to help you out. From what I saw at the different functions, he can also dance quite well."

Mythros looked like a deer having spotted a pair of hunting dogs. It was at least slightly amusing, seeing that expression on him. She had seen more emotions on him in the last two months than she had in all the years he had worked in the palace.

"That would be great!" Emelaigne turned to the advisor, smiling broadly, while he looked like he would love to make an escape, but didn't dare to.

"If it's alright with your teacher," he said, maybe hoping that she would tell him off. No luck for him, though. She motioned him to further into the room.

"I would love to watch, but my meeting approaches," her father threw in, smiled at them and left. Ophelia was sitting on a chair at the side, so she seemed to be watching the proceedings at least. 

"It should give you some good practice to dance with someone not your brother, as well," Lucette added. "Not all have Rod's height, and dancing skills may also differ." She started to tap out the rhythm. "Just the basic steps without turns."

Emelaigne was clearly unsure about being near any man not her brother. It was visible the moment they took positions to start. The basic step at least went well enough. The turns didn't go so well.

"Just turn your torso and let your legs accommodate the turn," Lucette said. "The steps stay the same. Mythros leads. His movement will tell you how far to turn."

She let them turn a few more times, before they stopped. "Better. Not perfect, but definitely some improvement," she decided. "Emelaigne, you lose focus too fast. You don't know the steps well enough to let yourself be distracted."

"Would you show me?" the blonde girl asked. Lucette took in how Mythros froze and made a decision. Nothing would be gained if he froze up to some degree whenever they ran into each other. It always made them lose time they may have used otherwise to get this damned explanation out of him.

She motioned him to step up to her and after a short hesitation, he obeyed.

"Just the basic turns?" he asked, approaching.

"Yes. For instructional purposes," she said.

"What pace?"

Lucette tapped it out and the man seemed to have caught himself enough to take it in. She could see him mouth the numbers, as he counted.

He was hesitant to make physical contact, but only for a moment. His grip on her hand became a bit firmer, the pressure of his hand on her back noticeable, then he reached the end of the count, started again and they moved.

It was fairly different to dance with a partner after years of not practicing with one, but the turns were familiar. Mythros was counting the numbers and was certain enough in his movements that she just needed to match his speed.

It was nice that he managed to keep the proper distance as well, her last tutor hadn't been able to, always coming way too close. Hadn't she complained about it just before he had left? She didn't remember…

Getting used to the rhythm and movement of the dancing partner only took a few turns.

There was a slight change in his step and Lucette followed flawlessly, allowing him to change directions of the turn.

Close up like that, she could also smell the herbs he tended to smoke. No trace of tobacco, though. His hand was warm and for a moment, she wondered why she thought it may have been otherwise. She had never pondered that other people also possessed body heat.

There were three more changes and then they stopped and parted.

Emelaigne squealed. "That looked really great!" she exclaimed happily.

"Yes, quite skilled." Ophelia threw in from the side. "You looked like you have quite some practice doing that." 

"Not during the last few years," she waved off. "But before I had regular practise. But I had more pressing things to take care off then."

"Yes, you're helping in Helena's store quite a lot," Emelaigne noted and then turned to Mythros. "Thank you for helping us out."

"My pleasure princess. But I think I need to take my leave. There are some things I still need to tend to," there was a strange expression in his eyes, but his voice was neutral and calm, his face relaxed.

"Of course," Ophelia smiled. "Who are we to keep you from your work?"

"And maybe you _and_ Rod can join the dance practice, then we both have dance partners!" Emelaigne exclaimed. "It makes much more fun with a partner."

Lucette felt her lips twitch as Mythros almost missed a step barely avoiding slamming into the door only hit his shoulder against the frame instead. Raising a brow at him quickly retreating out of sight she shook her head.

"You may want to see if there is a pendulum or something for rhythm for your dancing practice," she directed at the other girl. "Then you can focus on the steps and don't need to do the count as well. Practicing turns alone can be difficult, just concentrate on heel and toe placement while alone."

A clock chimed somewhere. "And that is our cue for dinner," Ophelia noted. "Thank you for helping."

"Your majesty," she nodded to the woman. "Princess. I'll see myself out, then."

-oOo-

It was long dark when Lucette arrived at the house. The walk had been uneventful. As such that none of the drunken men going home or changing taverns had stopped to bother her.

The cold may also simply discourage them from staying outside for longer than necessary.

As soon as she reached the street, she kept her eyes open for small moving shadows. Despite the cold, the cats still sometimes strayed outside and even greeted her on occasion before she reached the building.

There was a rustle in a hedge and she stopped for a moment and then crouched down, turning towards the sound. "Come, kitty, kitty, kitty," she murmured lowly. 

In the shadows glowing cat eyes stared back at her, low on the ground.

Holding out her hand, she waited and after a few tense moments the cat stalked forward, keeping low to the ground and hissing, ears folded back. Only after a moment of crouching in front of her, the furry head carefully bumped into her head.

After a moment the cat seemed to relax a bit and started climbing up her arms, to get carried back home.

Standing back up, Lucette carefully petted the cat's head, continuing her way home. Just a few meters away from the door, there was a strange sound, Lucette wasn't sure what exactly, like a hiss of air, and the cat on her arm went from relaxed to tense, burying the claws into the coat, hissing loudly as and ears folding back again.

For one, she wanted to know what had made the sound. But whatever it was, the cat seemed to thoroughly dislike it, to react outright aggressively. Biting her lip Lucette turned back towards the door and went inside.

Once the door was closed, the cat seemed to calm down. And resisted Lucette's tries to put it down. 

First Lucette thought the dark patches on the fur were dirt or some kind of dirty water that had splattered on the cat, causing the pelt to stick to the body. Not wanting to get the coat dirty, Lucette had been careful when the cat had climbed up her arms to get carried back home and also made sure there was no contact between the dirty patch and the coat.

But in the light of the lamps, the colour of the dirt was red and a coppery, metallic smell was filling the air.

"Lucette? Everything alright?" Helena's voice came from the kitchen and not a moment later the woman appeared.

Lucette looked from the woman back down to the cat on her arms.

There was a sharp intake of breath and the next moment Helena had a towel and the cat wrapped up in it, taking it with her and sitting down on the couch.

When Lucette followed, having taken off her coat, the witch was carefully petting the area close to the wound, weak sparks of light flitting from her fingers and sinking into the skin.

Fascinated, she settled to watch.

"This is the only thing, why I was ever jealous of Mýrún's branch of the family. I can barely light a few sparks, where she could create a steady glow to mend deep flesh wounds within seconds," Helena sounded distant, thoughts seemingly a hundred miles away.

Observing the flakes merging into the pelt, causing the bleeding to first slow down and then stop, she tried to imagine it going further.

"That is something, I may be able to do?" It was still a strange feeling that she would be able to use magic at some point. But healing sounded like something.... She didn't like people, didn't think she would ever build up enough patience to deal with them or want them to search her out to get healed.

But no matter what, there were still stories about what witches were able to do. That these things were the only things they could do. Having healing contrast these things was… nice. Calming.

"Would you do me a favour and get a rag to wash the blood off?" Helena gave her a tight smile. "That was… my limit already. It may be better if I stay seated for a bit."

She looked pale and there was sweat collecting on her forehead. When Lucette returned with a rag and took the cat from her, towel included, the other woman's hands were shaking.

Sitting down on the other sofa, Lucette started to carefully rub the clogged blood out of the fur. The cat weakly snuggled into her touch. "Is she going to be alright?" she finally dared to ask, feeling for the small ribcage, which was moving with each breath.

"She should be'" Helena was leaning back in her seat, sounding as exhausted as she looked. "Velvet won't be jumping around or play-fighting with Rose any time soon. ...Could you take a look at what the wound looks like? What happened, anyway?"

"I found her on the way here, she was hiding in the hedge." While the fur was still wet and sticky, with the blood gone the outline of the wound was easy to make out. "It looks like some kind of cut, I think. Even and smooth edges."

Had someone taken a knife to the cat? Why? It was too deep for some thorns having done that. Rose tapped up to them and jumped onto Lucette's armrest, watching its companion attentively.

"Should I bandage that up?" The wound was still open. It had stopped bleeding, though, which was calming at least.

"That may be for the best. Velvet won't be happy, but if we can keep it from reopening, I can simply encourage the healing further when my power’s recovered a bit."

Nodding, Lucette wrapped the cat back up in the towel and went to get the bandages.

What may have happened to Velvet was still on Lucette's mind the next day when she was waiting for Fritz to collect her from the store for their new routine. She was feeling strangely disappointed when he didn't turn up, but then there was always the possibility of something having happened. Maybe he had been needed for some duty. His knight dutys were more important, after all, than accompanying some girl through town, cousin or not. For a moment she was curious, if he had told Alcaster about their relation. She didn't know and she hadn't told him not to.

He didn't turn up the next day either, nor the day after that.

The worry was a gnawing cold feeling in her chest.

-oOo-

Mythros hadn't turned up for the next evening dancing practice, but Rod was there, glaring at her whenever Emelaigne was not looking at him. Either her stepsister knew anyway or she had some other reason for not asking her to show her the steps with a partner again.

But the one after, he was there. At it least if 'there' accounted for being close to the entrance of the room. Lucette wasn't sure that he had _intended_ to join the practice, but he was still there. And if he simply wanted to avoid Alcaster, who was talking to a lower lieutenant around a corner and approaching, she wasn't going to tell. And Mythros had reasoned him being there ss curiosity about how the lessons were proceeding.

She didn't want to meet the military advisor. She hadn't liked him before she had been cursed and what Karma had told her, hadn't done him any favours. Theoretically, she could ask him about Fritz. But then a royal advisor had no obligation to answer a simple instructor.

If she did it around Emelaigne, though, Alcaster would be more pressed to answer. And admitting that his son was missing and not having bothered to report it, would put him under quite some scrutiny…

"Princess, do you know if Fritz is on some kind of assignment?" Lucette asked, just a few steps away from the door. "He didn't turn up for a few of our meetings and I didn't see him in the palace at all."

"I… I don't know," Emelaigne blinked confused. "I didn't see him either, but I thought he was just on a different rotation." And right on cue, Alcaster was visible in the hallway. "Excuse me, Sir Alcaster?"

Lucette glanced around the room, assessing the situation. Rod was standing, giving her a serious look. Mythros had gone completely quiet and unmoving, standing utterly still.

"What my son is doing is none of your business, princess," Alcaster barked, giving Emelaigne a cold glare. "Concentrate on your own duties." The man stormed down the hallway, before anyone could say anything else.

Rod glared at the retreating man as he pulled his sister into the room.

"Sir Mythros, do you know anything?" Lucette asked into the silence and Emelaigne promptly looked over, seemingly having forgotten that the man was a royal advisor as well.

"I don't know anything either, princess," he replied, a lot more politer than Alcaster. Well, that wasn't difficult. "There were a few private assignments from Alcaster for his son, but these were just playing messenger for confidential documents. I didn't see him either for the last few days and at that point all assignments were finished. At least the ones I know off."

So Mythros didn't know anything (at least he said so) and Alcaster wasn't talking, disrespectful as he was. But he also hadn't time to stay for longer than a few dances. Emelaigne seemed pretty disappointed about the for some reason, but the man had mentioned before that he hadn't come to join the practice, so she had already been surprised as he stayed that long.

-oOo-

"-so much better with your antics!"

Lucette stilled at hearing the tail end of a sentences. It hadn't been loud and if it hadn't been evening, if servants had still been busy around the palace, she may not even have heard it.

Slowing her steps just slightly to quieten them, she looked around.

"At least I didn't tell the princess that her favourite knight's duties are none of her business when a blind man would be able to see the crush she has on him. And she isn't even the only one wondering! Your son is popular, if you didn't notice!" That was Mythros snapping an answer back.

"He is a naive brat! A blind fool with no ambitions!" That was Alcaster. Concentrating on the voice made it easy to recognize him.

Lucette finally noticed where the voices came from. The door to a nearby saloon was ajar. For a moment she thought about approaching, to take a look and then chastised herself internally.

She could hear more than enough from further, why should she risk getting close and being discovered?

"Why, because he was happy with what he had and didn't see a reason to reach for more? Him being missing and you drawing attention like that on it is the kind of attention we _don't_ need!"

"Everything is still going as planned. May even be sped up, if you stopped fooling around with that teacher." Alcaster's voice was a low growl.

"Proceeding faster is only going to make it worse! I can't keep cleaning up after you like with your son, when you made the offer! Do you want a repeat of the knights? Once can be played down, but more incidents like that? Even he would get suspicious!" A short bout of silence. "And for your information, I'm not 'fooling around' with anyone. The palace meetings are the only times I interact with her. And we need a solution for that missing knight."

"You cursed him, you can deal with it."

Lucette could feel her insides freeze. Mythros was-

"And what would you have done if I hadn't gotten involved? Kill him off to leave his body in a ditch to be found, resulting in an unaccounted number of people investigating it? People remembering that he last spoke with _you_?"

There was the sound of something shattering, echoing strangely, as if it had hit neither carpet nor blank floor- "Careful, Alcaster. It's starting to look like you don't want my help on that matter anymore. You may want to stop throwing things at me."

Whatever they were talking about, if she understood it right, they wouldn't be in there much longer. She wanted to keep listening in, to wait for more information on Fritz, but she couldn't be discovered. She would need to wait for another chance.

Lucette forced herself not to run, to keep her pace, no matter how much she wanted to bolt away from that room and the damning conversation. But she couldn't draw attention like that. Especially after what she had just heard.

There were still a few servants passing her by on the way out, but no one stopped her. And she reached the streets with no further delay.

Not thinking about what she heard was hard. She should only do so when she was safely in her current home. But her thoughts were running, her mind reeling with the new information.

Mythros was a witch. The implications alone were… interesting at least. He was hiding that he was a witch, at least she doubted that her father knew about it with his rants about witches. For some reason Alcaster knew. Alcaster had been _involved_ in getting Fritz cursed by Mythros and the witch had called it a clean up.

Cleaning up what? What had made it necessary to curse her personal knight? Mythros had mentioned _murder_ as non-magical alternative!

Lucette wasn't sure what the witch had done with the curse, but the curse was the reason why her cousin was missing instead of most likely being dead. She preferred it that way. Curses could be broken.

Didn't mean that she wouldn't demand a lot of information and explanations when she was in a position to do so.

Mythros was a witch, which meant he remembered her. He had been in the palace for years, so at least he hadn't been there for a quick bout of revenge. Question was, had he told people about her? But Fritz had also been running around looking for her, so there was no say, who knew about her, believing it or not.

Did Mythros tell anyone? But he would have needed an explanation, why he remembered her and while Alcaster knew of the other advisor being a witch, he clearly didn't know who she was.

But what had happened with Fritz? It had sounded like the curse was responsible, but what did the curse do outside the gaps in his memory?

She was almost at the house when there was rustling at the hedge. For a moment she wanted to stop, to see if it was just a cat, before remembering that Helena had said that she wouldn't let them out for some time.

Lucette turned just in time to see a shadow darting forward towards her.

No time to shout, barely any time to react, before a hand closed over her mouth and she was trapped, one arm twisted behind her back, the other mostly blocked by the hand over her mouth.

"Found you, little Red~" a voice growled into her ear. "It was quite some trouble finding you-"

The words broke off as she threw her head backwards. She was too short to hit the nose of whoever had trapped her, and the action may have hurt her more than him, but she hoped that she at least managed to make him bite his tongue by hitting his chin in that angle.

The grip tightened painfully and she struggled as the pressure increased. "Forget it, princess. You’re coming with me- fuck!"

Lucette had never been so happy about having retrieved the blade from her room and having trousers that could easily conceal the handle.

There was no feeling of resistance as the blade shoot out, but he let go and jumped away, the icy ground making him stumble away a bit further.

Enough room for Lucette to turn to face him.

He was tall, dark haired, dark skinned and wearing dark clothes, blurring his appearance in the little light coming from the street lamps.

"Little Red has claws… or at least a pocket knife," white teeth showed as he grinned at her. "Really think it'll save you from a wolf?"

"It got you to let go, didn't it?"

The voice cut through the cold air like thread snapping under strain. The man peeling out of the dark was tall, broad shouldered and didn't look inconvenienced at all by the icy ground.

"Oh, and who are you supposed to be? A Samaritan?" The attacker growled, tightening his grip on some cane that had been attached to his belt.

Lucette eyed the newcomer carefully, using the sudden distraction to get more space. From both, just to be on the safe side.

Well off clothing, but not overly decorated. And was that a crossbow on his back? She edged a bit further away, still looking. 

The self proclaimed wolf lunged forward at the man, faster than she had thought possible. Metal struck metal and there was a surprised sound of pain as both parted again.

The assaulter was holding his arm as his cane cluttered to the ground at his feet.

"Much bark and almost no bite. Blunt teeth, wolfie?" the man shot back, brow raised. Lucette wondered where he had gotten the blade from, he was holding. He didn't have it before…

An angry snarl and the cane got snatched up. Instead of attacking, he froze up, though.

"So that is what is taking you so long, when you went out to check what had the cat's blood still on itself. Didn't think it was a grown man, though." A new voice, another man. This one had a scar running over his face and yellow eyes glowing in the dark.

The last feature was the one catching her attention the most.

An eerie magical glow collected around one hand and the next moment he had disappeared, just to reappear between herself and her almost kidnapper.

Cursing, the already wounded man fled.

Lucette barely noticed, still trying to make sense about how the man had just changed places.

Magic and yellow eyes. The other guy just cleaning his blade and letting if snap back into the handle just like the one she had. She let her eyes wander to her own blade and watched it disappear with a similar sound.

"So that is what Helena meant as she said that one of your toys was found, Richard."

Richard shrugged. "Can think of worse ways for it to be used."

Lucette wasn't sure how exactly she ended up in the living room, but when her mind caught up, she was there, two healthy cats cuddling with her, despite one of them having clearly been hurt in the morning, and eyeing both men carefully from her seat as Helena made some tea.

Atreus raised a brow at her. She didn't look away, but also wasn't sure how to start a conversation.

Richard finally broke the silence. "When Helena told us that she had already found you, I wasn't sure what to expect," he said. "Definitely didn't think you would have my old sword."

"I found it in an old saloon. The room was so dusty, I didn't think anyone would miss it," she shrugged. "Helena called it one of your toys?"

Richard snorted at that. "Yes, sounds like her. Sometimes we get her to at least call them tools." There was a short bout of silence. "Could I take a look at it?" She handed the folded blade over to him and watched as he let the blade shot out multiple times and then inspected the edge.

While he was occupied, her gaze slipped sideways. Atreus was leaning against the wall and looking away from her into the darkness outside, bright eyes reflecting in the window glass.

In the light of the fireplace he looked even more ominous than outside, the edges of the scar throwing slight shadows, which were moving in the light of the fireplace.

He also looked harder than Richard, who had a more scruffy appearance. Atreus’ hair was cut short, leaving no illusions about the scar running over his face, eyes almost emotionless and clean-shaven.

Somehow Richard's appearance was similar to her father -well, they were uncle and nephew- but his beard wasn't meticulously cut into shape. Chin beard and mustache weren't parted from each other and she had only ever seen her father in royal garments instead of high quality traveling clothes.

The lines of his face were harder, more weathered and his dark eyes gave no hint of the soft expressions her father tended to give Ophelia and her children.

"You don't use the blade regularly, I assume?" Richard pulled her out of her musings.

"Yes. I made sure that I was familiar with reach and the extension mechanism, but never had a teacher and didn't feel like hurting myself on accident," she nodded. "But it's easy to conceal and I thought it may still be useful for emergencies."

As it had proven to be against her attacker, who had at least let go of her.

"Richard, no toys indoors," Helena called out bringing tea over. "I did think the introductions would be calmer. Atreus, come over here and stop hoping that the enemy will return. You know that I don't want blood on the floor." The other man grumbled something under his breath, but left the window.

"And you did place wards with his blood now, so you'll know if he returns, even if he washes the cat blood off," Richard added, handing the sword back to Lucette.

Another grumble and the man accepted the tea from Helena. And then his eyes landed directly on Lucette.

Believing that he was an ancestor of Alcaster was easy. They had the same uncomfortably piercing gaze and the knowledge that the man had magic in his repertoire was not making it easier to keep from twitching.

There was a short bout of silence.

"Yes, she'll do. Has more spine than her grandfather, at least," he finally said, voice a low grumble. "He was never able to hold my gaze."

That was… nice?

Helena was letting out a sigh and Richard seemed to be caught between snickering and grimacing.

"Richard, make sure that she gets proficient enough with that sword that she doesn't end up defenseless if we aren't around," Atreus said. "Then you'll have something to do while I set up the building extension."

Lucette felt something like foreboding settling in her gut as she saw Richard looking her over, seemingly thinking something over.

"Yes… yes, that should work. Helena, how much do you need her in the store?"

"I can spare her in the earlier hours, just bring her over when the lessons are over," Helena's smile was sweet, the words light, but somehow that wasn't calming Lucette down at all.

"Well, I guess, we'll start tomorrow. I'll make sure that there’re training clothes around for you tomorrow morning," Richard's smile had a strange edge to it and Lucette silently watched him leave.

Well, learning to defend herself wouldn't be bad, but… She looked back to Helena, who may have been able to read her worry from her gaze somehow.

"Don't worry about it, dear. Richard trained people before. He knows what he is doing," the witch smiled.

Atreus was smirking.

Lucette hugged the cats close and hoped she wasn't going to regret that.

* * *

AN: A small edit. Or rather: An addition. I found a nice little flash games from Rinmaru Games, which allowed me to recreate the first dance between Lucette and Myth:


	11. Chapter 08 - A New Routine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe how long it took me to complete this chapter. Damn it does time past fast. I still hope you'll enjoy it like you enjoyed the other chapters.
> 
> And also hope that the next one won't take almost six months to be completed.
> 
> AN: If you want to know what Richard and Atreus look like, look up Corvo Attano and Daud from Dishonored 2. I admit to using them as templates.

Three months cursed, three months to go, three days into training and Lucette was regretting every single decision. She regretted it over and over again, each time she pulled a sore muscle she hadn't even known existed. Like right now.

"Again!" Richard shouted a moment after Lucette hit the ground. At least she had figured out how to fall and not make the momentum drive the air out of her lungs. Not that it made things easier. It just decreased the short breaks between each round.

Lungs already burning from the work she was putting her body through, she fought herself back to her feet and grabbed the sword handle again.

She had quickly learned that Richard was strong and fast. There was no way for her to block any direct hits without hitting the ground. She needed to dodge, deflect and stay out of range. Which was really difficult when the opponent was bigger, stronger and faster. With a lot more experience as well.

And while there had been a mention of free days for recovery, they were still seemingly so far away. Currently she was mostly learning how to get back up and trying to keep track of a far superior fighter. She only managed to barely deflect a hit, before a hand grabbed her wrist and flipped her whole body over.

It was unfair how easily he could do that.

Richard wasn't running her into the ground as much as  _ almost _ running her into the ground each morning, leaving her exhausted and sweaty. It resulted in her arriving later at the shop than she normally did and feeling utterly miserable for the last few days. If her great-uncle -and god, it was strange calling him that even inside her head- hadn't had these potions ready, she wouldn't be able to do any work at all afterward.

Another change was the food. She had stopped finding herself something to eat on the market each day when she got hungry. Instead she would eat breakfast late, after the training, and then take packed food with her to the store for Helena and herself. It gave her a chance to catch up on the time she would normally spend with her grandmother in the morning. And the training left her ravenous and she appreciated how she wasn't in the palace anymore where a change in behavior -even if only the amount eaten- would cause a wave of rumours to emerge.

Thinking of the palace caused her to think of Fritz. He was still gone with no sign about where he went. She wasn't going to complain about the training, but she missed not needing to worry about being attacked and knowing he was having her back. Richard and Atreus were willing to fill up that position and she wasn't going to reject that protection, but she disliked anyone replacing Fritz and so she had decided to cut back on these outings for now instead.

It was also awkward to speak with them. Lucette barely knew them. They were related, but somehow it felt strange, how she went from only having Helena close by most of the time to these two also being there. And these walks in town had been something to do with Fritz, something relaxed and the tension of not knowing them and not knowing how to trust them like she was trusting Fritz would have made these trips unenjoyable anyway.

Richard was less intimidating than Atreus at least, which was the main reason why he had agreed to be the one to bring her to and collect her from the palace after her sessions there were over. The chance of someone recognizing him was low enough that he had decided to accept the risk. There weren't even any pictures of him left anywhere in the palace and the chance of someone he knew turning up and recognizing him as well were pretty slim. Especially with him being a generation  _ before _ her father and him having left before her father was born over forty years ago.

Laying on the ground, she stared up at the sky, feeling the sweat coating her face and the small drops running down her neck.

This was what hell felt like. And she couldn't even find reasons to  _ not _ learn. Well, she could, but she didn't want to be trailed all the times she wasn't at home or anywhere else protected and Fritz's absence proved that there was always the possibility of her protector being unable to fulfill their duty.

And if this Varg-guy ever turned up again, she wanted to at least be able to kick him where it hurt the most.

But currently her body was permanently hurting with aching muscles and shallow bruises, her fingers numb from how often the blade had rattled against her grip when getting hit by her opponent and generally she wished for the training to end as soon as her breath picked up past the normal out-of-breath and her heart started hammering in her chest.

"Again!" She hated that word. Cursing inwardly she got back to her feet.

-oOo-

Lucette had hit the ground five more times before Richard had ended the session and then rushed through clean-up so the man could escort her to the store.

"I need to go to the palace this afternoon," she finally broke the silence. "The way there should be safe during the day and all the knights around."

Not that the way there was a problem. The streets were going to be full and there would be way too many people around for her attack to try again. The area around the house was warded and watched now and the store wasn't in a remote place either. And the streets close to the palace were patrolled, even at night.

But they had decided against any risk and so she was getting accompanied to the palace and getting accompanied home as well. Today would be the first time she was going to the palace since the man had attacked her three days ago. Lucette had already settled on labeling Richard an 'uncle from her father's side of the family', which wasn't even a lie, while obscuring the fact that he was a witch and older than he looked.

If she hadn't known better she would have thought that he was roughly her father's age, the lines dug in his face just slightly deeper than her father's, whose had lessened with not remembering her from what she had observed. It would make the story more believable at least.

"The risk should be pretty low," the man agreed, sidestepping a woman with a child pulling on her hand. "I did take a look around near the palace during the last days, but three days isn't enough to find a safe way to sneak in. And if he is there, I would like you to point these men out to me."

These men. With everything that had happened the last time she had returned from the palace she had almost forgotten what had happened  _ at _ the palace, something she had not missed to tell the new arrivals and Helena the next morning when her thoughts had calmed down enough to allow her access to her memories.

So they all now knew that Fritz had been cursed by Mythros, who was a witch on orders by Alcaster to cover something up that Alcaster had done and Fritz had learned off. And being situated inside the palace on a regular basis all three of them had moved up on the list of priorities to at least keep an eye on.

Fritz only seemed to be a key person due his high profile lifestyle and being well-liked and known around the knights, which would have caused his disappearance to be noticed pretty quickly. The only reason it hadn't been noticed before now had been Emelaigne's reluctance to ask for him. If she hadn't been cursed she would have noticed her knight gone within the day and would have ordered him found and -if he was dead- the cause thoroughly investigated.

With Alcaster having been the last person to have seen him and the discharged knights having tried to bring attention to Alcaster's plan, even her father would have been hard pressed to overlook his advisor's involvement.

And believing both Richard's and Atreus' experiences about the animosity she had described between the two advisors, both men were more loose allies each with their own aim then partners working for the same goal. Either the goal of one furthered the goal of the other or they were planning to backstab each other at some point.

No matter what, her father was in the crossfire and all of them didn't like it. Lucette didn't like it, because he was still her father (despite her feelings on the matter) and she really wanted to get a few answers out of him at some point. And if she needed to call on either newly discovered relatives to pin him down for that conversation, so it be.

Helena still wanted her son to live, no matter how unhappy she was with his decisions.

Richard and Atreus were both simple in agreement that another change of ruler would be disastrous and preferred a witch on the throne to further prevent another witch hunt with the prejudice still going strong.

"They should be pretty easy to recognize," she shot back. Alcaster was an imposing figure and always in uniform, and she didn't remember a single time Mythros was unkempt. At least when he wasn't stumbling over oversized cats or running from people gossiping about his possible crush on her.

"I don't like working on assumptions," the man shrugged and Lucette conceded him that point. Better to be sure on these matters than risking mistakes.

"So you're accompanying me there, then?" 

"Yes. I couldn't really approach the palace openly without a reason anyway. Playing bodyguard to someone, who did get attacked once already, is one they can't refute."

Lucette resigned herself to a possible tense walk to the palace at noon.

-oOo-

It wasn't as bad as she had worried in the end. Despite everything Richard only had three days in the city and between training her, warding the neighbourhood and building the new room to Helena's house there hadn't been that much time he had been able to put into re-exploring the area around the palace that must have been very familiar to him at some point.

So she mostly walked her normal route and Richard kept an eye on what corners she took and didn't take, where the guards walked and what lined the streets.

"Did Atreus really sneak into the palace once while mother was still around?" she finally asked quietly. "Helena mentioned something like that and I am trying to figure out how serious she was about that."

A dry chuckle escaped the man. "He did. At least, he said he did, and he doesn't tend to lie about things like that. Most tense week of my life, waiting for him to turn back up," the witch hummed, watching a knight-patrol pass them by. "No news was good news, if only because it meant he wasn't discovered. If he had been, rumours would have spread out. And he returned with the news that my nephew was still alive, Helena under watch but unharmed and you physically well taken care of, if not in good hands. If your mother had been anyone else, crown princess be damned, he would have sneaked you out, if only because you were family."

"I… can't recall a situation where I would have needed saving of any kind," she frowned at the thought, trying to pinpoint what exactly had been so bad that the man would have taken her away like that. Sure, she hadn't gotten along with people and it had been pretty lonely when her mother didn't have time for her, but it hadn't been  _ bad _ .

...right? "Is that about me missing memories?"

"Yes," the man responded bluntly. "Memories and experience is how we learn to respond to our surroundings, if only to learn what to avoid. No one should have taken part of what forms them taken away like that."

"But I wouldn't have liked you for taking me away. I remember being happy with mother. I would have tried to go home."

"Yes. That was one of the reasons why he didn't do it. Instead he pulled back undiscovered, to wait for a better opportunity," he grimaced. "And then we heard rumors about some people trying to restart the witch hunts when the news about your mother's demise spread and were needed elsewhere."

"I don't think father would have taken well to being related to a witch in more ways than through marriage." Not with his rants about how witches were responsible with all bad that had happened to his kingdom.

"He wouldn't have gotten a choice there. He  _ won't _ have a choice there anymore. You will need a teacher when you reach majority. And his opinion of witches is well known. No one with sense would go near a place knowing they'll be scapegoats for every ounce of bad luck. Not even the apprentice turning on her and being labeled a hero stayed."

"Mother cursed him and erased him from my memories. It seems he befriended me at some point, but I don't really remember." Wasn't it satisfying to know how her father had shot himself into the foot like that? Was that mindset the reason how Mythros managed to enter the palace? No one sane would dare, so why check for a witch?

She was morbidly curious about how her father would react to one of his advisors he valued so much to be part of the group of the population he hated.

"Girl, prepare yourself to getting your brain picked in the evening," the man grumbled, dissatisfied at the short summary, despite that being all Lucette knew about it. For more, Richard would need to ask Waltz, and she hadn't gone to the plaza he performed or near the inn since the disastrous meeting. Hadn't seen hide nor hair since Karma had warned her of Alcaster.

She would need to ask Rod for directions though, if she planned to lead them there. Or tell them to either follow her stepbrother or corner Waltz after a performance. Inwardly she tried to imagine both imposing men cornering the cursed child and scratched that idea. She didn't like him -at least currently- but she didn't wish  _ that _ on him.

Which meant she either tracked him down after a performance herself, told her uncle and his father-in-law to stalk her step-brother or talked with the blond boy, an option the witches were most likely aware of existed, no matter how much she disliked it. And as much as she disliked the Marchen and its inhabitants, they would need some kind of warning, if only so the people they wanted to speak to were around when they arrived.

"Do I want to know what you were thinking about?"

"Weighing the options of talking with my stepbrother versus you and Atreus either stalking him or interrogating a seemingly ten year old."

"Talk with him and explain in the evening what exactly that has to do with us."

Yes, that was what she thought.

-oOo-

"Who was the man accompanying you?" As always, Emelaigne's curiosity knew no borders and the blonde girl was eager to get new information as long as it was about people.

"An uncle from my father's side of the family. He had been away from the capital for some time," Lucette replied calmly. There was no reason to mention the attack to her. It was literally none of her business.

"For a moment I thought he was your father," the princess said, looking the way Richard had disappeared to.

He had accompanied her past the gates until they had met Emelaigne waiting for her teacher, the knights keeping an eye on the unknown newcomer with more scrutiny than Lucette had ever received during her cursed stay in the palace.

But then she was a young woman and Richard moved and breathed that he was a trained fighter. He hadn't lingered either, deciding to play it safe by not provoking the guards and they had agreed to meet at the gates when the lessons were over anyway.

"What gave that impression?" She was pretty curious there. She hadn't tried to compare her father and Richard before, but she wasn't really finding similarities outside of them both having black hair.

"Well, mostly the hair," the girl answered. "And I couldn't picture you allowing a stranger to accompany you like that."

The hair-? Lucette let out a sigh as she caught a strand of her hair between her fingers and looked at the dark colour. She was still thinking of herself with red hair and while looking at the mirror wasn't flinch-worthy anymore, it was still uncanny to see herself with a different hair colour.

"You couldn't have known that one," she got out instead. "But my normal hair colour is red. I dyed it when it became too attention grabbing. I only got the eye colour from my father."

"Me and Rod got our hair and eye colour from our dad," Emelaigne threw in, stepping into the room they were using for the lessons now. With Lucette also practicing dancing with her there had been a change in locations, the resulting room being bigger with more free space. Someone had even found a pendulum to be used during practice and from what Lucette had heard, the dance instructor had been happy that he could just keep his lessons as he was used to and that someone else was filling the gaps not in his area of expertise.

"Your uncle looks intimidating by the way. Does he look a lot like your father?"

No, she did not want to think about that. She had the painful feeling that her father would come up short when she compared the two, despite her only having known Richard for a few days by now. "I didn't look at them with the thought of comparing them. They have both black hair at least. We can talk later about that, your lessons come first." And with a bit of luck, she would be able to distract the girl from that topic or just claim she had no time to talk with her and needing to get going.

It wouldn't even be a lie, looking how Richard would be coming to collect her.

-oOo-

Mythros didn't turn up when it was time for the dancing part of the lesson and she wasn't sure if she welcomed it or not. She hadn't danced with him outside of the first time when Emelaigne had requested a demonstration and having a partner would have helped Emelaigne to practice the steps better, especially the part of following the lead of a partner. 

Rod was occupied as well during the evening also scratching her plans of getting the directions for the Marchen out of him. If he was unwilling to tell her, she could still set the witches on him.

Despite that Emelaigne seemed to have forgotten about the topic of family and Lucette welcomed the postponing on the topic. When the lesson was over, Snowball came padding into the room welcoming getting scoped up and cuddled by Emelaigne and the blond girl was also more than happy to let Lucette snuggle with the cat for a moment, when the cat wanted to get to the other girl.

"When did you notice you like cats?" Emelaigne asked when the lesson was over.

"I didn't have contact with any until I lived with Helena," Lucette said, setting the cat down when it started batting at her face and watching it strolling away from them. "But Helena has two of them and Velvet and Rose are very affectionate cats and were very curious about that new person in their home. I don't think I would have taken well to cats if I had met a bad tempered one first."

"Mother was so surprised when I came back from town with a cat," the girl recalled. "But it grew on me within the day and even father seems to become more comfortable with Snowball."

Lucette could see why. Snowball was very easy to get along with. "Diablos may be a bit much to handle for him."

"That was Mythros' cat," the blonde hummed. "I didn't think he would have a pet. But it does explain how little trouble he has with Snowball."

It was questionable who was whose pet, though. Keeping that thought to herself Lucette used the slight lull in conversation to part ways with the blonde and start her way to the gates to meet with Richard.

She was not surprised, when the white cat joined her and let herself be scooped up not even two hallways down. 

Outside of that, alone with no one there outside of herself in the late evening hours, the maids being mostly done with the work in this area, her surroundings had a painfully familiar feeling to them. She was alone and the silence was enclosing her, just like it had always done after her mother died and before her father remarried. And after he had remarried she had wished the silence back, if only to rid herself of the sigh of how easy her father was around them when he couldn't be bothered to talk with her at all outside off meals or the rare cases when he wanted her to do something.

Fritz had driven some of the silence away when he had been around, but he had other duties and she hadn't needed a babysitter.

Having spent months with Helena, who was not trying to avoid her, willing to listen and think about what she said and still not leaving her to spend her time away from the grandchild she hadn't even known before… The silence was almost suffocating and no longer as pleasant as she had remembered it.

She knew that she couldn't tolerate Emelaigne around herself for every waking hour of the day. The girl was simply too loud for that. Too energetic. Small phases with her accepting boundaries and not pushing into her own space was making it easier as well.

It was strange, all these things revealing themselves to her and making her notice how she was no longer fitting the space she had left when the curse had been cast. The cat squirmed in her arms and she barely noticed when she recognized where she was.

From the frame her mother looked back at her with cold, green eyes, staring down at her from the painting from where she was standing, face a cold mask void of emotions. The cat batted at the loose strands of hair at the side of her face and she ignored it. Why had her mother erased her memories? Why had her mother hidden that she was a witch? Despite everything neither of her parents would have been able to hide that part of her parentage the moment she hit eighteen and Lucette couldn't understand  _ why _ .

So many things seemed to have twisted away from what she thought they were.

"Ow!" Pain flaring at her head pulled her away from her thoughts. Letting the cat go was a reflex she regretted when her hair turned out to be the only thing holding the weight of the cat. Successfully so, as the claws were entangled into the strands bound back and woven tightly into each other.

The kitten promptly started to panic. Squirmed and flailed around, pulling at the hair it had tangled itself up in. Lucette wasn't sure if she made a sound or not, she did bite her tongue though to try to properly grasp the animal again to make it stop moving.

A task very difficult when your target was small, squirming and could see your limbs trying to reach for it. She ended up the kitten pinned with one hand against the crook of her neck and the other hand awkwardly loosening the pins keeping her hair in place.

She was already inwardly cursing when she heard steps approach, but went back to entangling herself when the kitten started squirming again. "Snowball! Bad kitty!" Ophelia's voice carried through the hallway and for a moment Lucette tried to figure out if it was a bad or good thing. Judgment pointed towards good, when another set of hands grasped the cat and kept it in place until Lucette found the strand trapping the animal.

"Thank you," she bit out, rubbing the hurting area. "I should have paid attention when it started using my hair as a toy."

The woman just gave her a strained smile. "Oh, it did the same thing with me some days ago. I did assume it learned better though." The white cat squirmed, trapped in the queen's grip, was unable to escape though. Lucette glared at the cat for good measure.

"Ophelia? Everything alright?"

Lucette barely kept herself from grimacing when her father rounded the corner. Promptly trailed by Mythros, who was looking rather curious and raised a brow at her, before seeing the squirming cat.

"It's nothing, dear. Snowball didn't learn from the last time," the woman waved off. "One moment not paying attention and the little one takes advantage."

Whatever had happened the first time around must have been memorable, because the king grimaced and gave the cat a cold look, before sighing. "I guess cats do what cats want," he admitted, Mythros letting out a noise of agreement.

"Remembering Diablos?" Lucette threw in, pulling the remaining pins from her hair. Keeping it open until she was at home wouldn't be too problematic, she would just need to invest more time into combing it out.

"Well, I guess the scene would have been worse, if it was Diablos," the witch admitted. "He is at least two times the size after all, resulting in more weight."

Her father seemed to lose his line of thought, at the description of the cat. "How likely is it for Snowball to reach that size?"

"Pretty unlikely. The oversized fur ball grew a lot faster than this one." Mythros didn't seem to notice the grateful look her father threw him at the revelation.

The gong of a clock startled Lucette out of the conversation. "Excuse me, your majesty, your highness, sir Mythros, but I need to go."

"It is quite late," Ophelia agreed, glancing out of a window and the almost dark sky and frowned. "Are you sure it will be safe for you to be out alone in the dark?"

Her father got a thoughtful look. Mythros smile seemed to freeze on his face as both of them remembered that her father thought that he had a crush on her. Thinking about it, his attention may have been on her because he knew who she was, instead of any kind of possible attraction. Depending on what he was playing at by not revealing Alcaster's plans to her father it would still make things easier than having to deal with him if he had not been a witch, had a crush and then remembered who she was.

And just as she thought it and Mythros was trying to edge back around the corner and conveniently out of sight, her father was turning to his advisor.

Lucette decided to cut the whole thing short. "There is no need. I have someone fetching me from the gates."

She could see witch and humans startle at that information. "Really? I thought I always saw you leaving alone..." Ophelia's frown deepened.

"It is a bit of a recent development, but I'll not be unaccompanied. My uncle should already be waiting at the gates for me." And Richard would not be happy about being left waiting either, especially not during the first time they were supposed to meet.

Lucette was not even ashamed to admit that she was fleeing from that conversation. She had better things to do than playing along with her father playing matchmaker. Especially when he was unaware of who she was to him. It made her almost miss his unwillingness to interact with her. It was better than the knowledge that it was something about her that had kept him from doing so.

At least Richard was already waiting for her and raising an unimpressed brow at her hurrying past the gates.

"Help. My father is trying to play  _ matchmaker _ !"she hissed quietly at him so the knights wouldn't hear her. 

In response, the second brow rose and changed his expression from unimpressed to amused. "It kept you from being on time, I assume?"

Well… "No. That was a cat deciding that my hair was a toy and getting tangled up in it. I may have needed assistance to get it free," she grimaced, remembering the cat flailing around. "I kind of ran from the conversation when Ophelia noticed that I normally left alone when it was late and the king was thinking about assigning me a guard for the way."

Richard was chuckling as she pulled him along to move and followed her speed until they rounded the first corner. Then he suddenly grabbed her and the world went black-

-just to return not even a moment later and his grip was the only thing keeping her from falling to her knees. Catching her breath, she looked around. They weren't on the streets anymore. Instead they were on the roofs and while she was getting back to her feet, Richard was crouching at the edge of the roof, looking down.

Slowly and wary of her steps she joined him, cursing how little grip her boots found on the surface. "The person arriving at the gate in yellow is my father. The woman is Ophelia, his second wife. And the man trailing after them is Mythros."

"Even from here I can see that he doesn't want to be there." While talking, Richard had pulled a spyglass from his coat, most likely to take a closer look at the persons she had just pointed out. "Yeah, that guy looks a bit like Alexander. Eyes are pretty distinct as well. Good to know the woman on sight as well. And Mythros..."

He trailed off, voice fading as the spyglass lowered. Then he seemed to snap back to attention and before she could react his form turned into smoke and he disappeared, leaving her behind.

Stuck on the roof.

Curiously she glanced down and grimaced. He better remember where he left her.

When he returned a few minutes later, he looked pale and shaken and didn't say anything. Not when he got her off the roof and not on their way home.

-oOo-

The next morning, it was Atreus who fetched her for her morning lessons. And instead of telling her to take the sword for practice, he walked her away from the area where she had practiced the sword with Richard to a broken and abandoned building somewhere in the forest.

It looked like it had partly burned down, with broken windows and a partly carved in roof.

"Why are we here? We could have practiced the sword at the usual place," Lucette frowned at the building.

"We aren't here to learn fighting," he replied, stopping halfway between herself and the wall of the building, a hole visible on the first floor, big enough to comfortably allow a grown person entry. "Richard told me what happened yesterday and how you were pretty much stuck on the roof until he got you down. And that is not acceptable and something we're going to work on."

Then he took a running start and was up the wall, pulling himself up through the hole with no visible usage of magic.

Lucette thought about how easy he made it look and how easy Richard made swatting her around with the sword look. Then she tried to judge the height of the wall.

When Atreus was leading her back to the house to get cleaned up, she was muddy, disgruntled, knowing about a whole number of bruises she was going to have in a few hours and winded in a way utterly different to how Richard was leaving her after putting her through the wringer. Wherever he was. She hadn't seen him since he had left for the already finished room.

"You'll need better boots," the older witch said as they were on the way back. "You slip way too easily with these. And gloves to get a proper grip on edges without cutting yourself."

"Where is Richard, anyway?" she replied, trying to push back the dread at needing to buy stuff again.

"Investigating something," the man replied. "It may be nothing, but he thought it better to look into it."

Well, at least she could assume that they would tell her, if something came from it.

-oOo-

"I wanted to ask during the whole lesson. Is everything alright?" Emelainge looked outright worried when the tutoring was over two days later, and Lucette could guess why. Atreus had healed the worst of the bruises, but rejected to heal everything to let the muscle strengthen itself while recovering from the workout. So while she wasn't showing any bruises, her muscles were sore like never before, causing her to wince at almost every movement.

And while Lucette could notice her stamina increasing, it still left her moody and snappy.

"My uncle decided I needed training and is running me through drills," she replied, wincing at pulling yet another muscle. "I'm getting sessions till noon on non-tutoring days and morning sessions everyday."

And Helena had allowed them to run her through these drills, as long as they left her with enough energy to work half-day shifts at the store.

Rod, who had been a silent companion, having been pulled along by his sister for dancing practice, gave her a startled look, mirroring the surprise visible on Emelaigne's face. "You're learning sword fighting?" Sebby's voice squeaked Rod's question. "Like the knights?"

"More dodging, deflecting and speed than what the knights learn," she replied. "Don't have the build for anything else. But my muscles still complain."

"Rod is hopeless with the sword, and the instructor is losing hope there," Emelaigne shared what Lucette hadn't bothered to know before the curse. "Maybe you could give him pointers as well!"

Rod looked like he had bitten into a lemon. "I doubt that. I only had training for a week now and the only thing I am getting good at is to catch my fall and how to get out of grapples," which was at least something of an achievement. "And I doubt the instructor is putting him through the wringer that he ends up unable to move while catching his breath when the session is over."

"You think that may change something?" Emelaigne sounded genuinely curious. Rod seemed like he wished Lucette would stop talking.

"I doubt the instructor would dare to treat a prince like that," she said instead, fighting back a smirk, trying to imagine Rod getting put through the torture she was suffering through daily. It was nice when it wasn't her…

But it was also nice that they were teaching her and only her, paying attention to how she proceeded and correcting her before she learned something wrong.

"Talking of sword fighting and knights, did you hear anything new about Fritz?" Lucette wanted to know. Everything aside, her stepsister was a good source of information about what was going on in the palace, if it was a topic of interest to her.

"No… It seems he disappeared on the way home. Alcaster claimed that they weren't seeing much of each other anyway, and that he hadn't noticed that they weren't just not running into each other," Emelaigne said. "But… how couldn't he have noticed that his son was gone for  _ days _ ?"

Lucette tried to push away the feeling clawing in her chest. Emelaigne seemed to have wanted an agreement, giving her a wide-eyed look, when she wasn't answering.

"If father and I hadn't seen each other during meals after mother died, we wouldn't have met for weeks," was the only thing she said instead. But the palace was also a lot bigger than the townhouse the Levertons lived in. A lot more difficult to avoid each other.

Emelaigne bit her lip and looked away. Rod just remained quiet, also not looking at her.

"But there is no reason I know of why they should have been avoiding each other and I doubt that it wouldn't have been brought to Alcaster's attention that his son was not turning up for his duties," she added instead as an afterthought.

Her father should take accusations against his advisors more seriously. Being related and having known that man aside, it wasn't a secret that the man thought her father too soft.

Thoughts voiced, she let Emelaigne wander ahead of them out of the room to think about what she had heard. And snatched Sebby to keep Rod from leaving and from complaining about being held back, before he could follow the girl.

And keeping Rod from getting the stuffed rabbit back by holding it up. Being slightly taller than him, if only by a few centimetres and wearing heels had its advantages.

"Stop complaining, I have no wish to hold onto this, but I also don't want to need to explain to your sister how I know about the Marchen," she said.

Rod stumbled away, when she used his surprise to pull a leg out from under him, making him scramble to keep his balance. Then she threw him the rabbit back.

Instead of catching it from the air, it hit Rod in the face before he managed to get a hold on it to keep it from falling to the ground.

"Why do you want to talk with me about the Marchen?" he frowned at her.

"Because Fritz was the one who knew the directions there and I didn't think to ask after the first visit went south as the two local pet knights decided to try to threaten me," she replied. "And since I barely know what went down when Waltz turned against Mother, he'll need to fill in some gaps I won't be able to explain to my uncle."

"...Delora mentioned that you learned the truth about your mother." The blonde said, before frowning at her. "Why are you calling him 'uncle'?"

"Why shouldn't I? Theoretically, he is my great-uncle, but calling him that is kind of a mouthful," she shrugged. "And truthfully, it is less trouble than having people know that he has magic due to him not looking his age."

"And you want the directions to the Marchen because he wants the full story…" Rod gave her a wide-eyed look. "I'll need to ask Parfait first. I don't think she would like me revealing the location like that."

"Sure. I just thought it better to corner you than having a growing man track down and interrogate Waltz," she wasn't shy of admitting. "Just tell me when you have an answer."

Rod didn't follow her when she left the room.

-oOo-

It was when she was sitting with the others in the living room, Helena working on something, Atreus and Richard talking quietly with each other and Lucette occupying the cats, when a thought caught up with her and she stilled. When the cats complained about her no longer playing along, Helena looked up from her work.

"Something wrong?" the woman asked curiously.

"I told Rod that Richard has magic and is my great-uncle," she said after a moment of silence and then tilted her head, frowning slightly. 

"And?" Atreus threw in, looking unmoved by the retelling. "You told us that already."

"Do you think I should have told him that you're from my  _ father's _ side of the family?"

The question seemed to remind them that most people either didn't remember or didn't care about the older half-brother of the previous king.

"You… may want to add that the next time you see him," Helena agreed after a short moment of silence.

Nodding slowly to herself, Lucette went back to playing with the cats.

-oOo-

Richard had gone back to normal as much as Lucette could see of him during training and his bodyguard duty. Another tutoring session went by without anything special happening and Rod keeping his distance.

Which was a bad thing, because when he had seen Richard, he had bolted like the hounds of hell were after him, leavening Emelaigne behind with a dumbfounded expression. Lucette could only shrug in response to her questioning look and let it be, because she had neither skill nor reason to hunt him down in the palace, without making public who her mother was. And that was better kept quiet with no royal guard to keep someone wanting revenge away from her.

It was the next time on the way to the palace when Richard deviated from his normal behavior, stopping her a corner away from the palace.

"Can you get Mythros out with you, so I can talk with him?"

The question through Lucette and she gave the man a confused look. "Do you really think that is a good idea?" She glanced at the palace. Who knew how the man would react to learning that they knew what he was?

"I… No. But he looks a lot like someone I knew once. Before the Great War. And I couldn't track down enough of his background during the last days to make sure that they are  _ not _ related," he took a deep breath. "And I need to make sure. Especially for future plans."

"That's what I'll tell him, then," she agreed. At least he admitted that it was a bad plan and told her as much. "Does Atreus know?"

"Yes. He'll lie in wait in case of trouble."

Calmed, Lucette nodded and went her way to the palace.

-oOo-

"Do you know where Sir Mythros is at the moment?"

Lucette was pretty sure that the question had been utterly unexpected by her stepsister, who gave her first a confused and then eager look. Most likely assuming something about the crush her father assumed was there.

"No, but I can ask father. I'm sure he'll tell you!" the blonde exclaimed happily and Lucette let herself be pulled along to the king, suffering the eager expression of the girl and the curious looks the servants gave her.

"Father? Lucette is looking for Mythros, do you know where he is?" she chirped, the moment she had found the man, eyes bright and eager to help.

"Oh, really?" Golden eyes, so similar to her own looked at her, curious and steady. Curse him for being unable to look at her like that while remembering her. "I think he wanted to leave earlier than usual today. You should be able to catch him, if you wait by the main entrance for a bit."

At least the man hadn't asked about the occasion.

"Thank you, your majesty," she bid the man goodbye and sighed when the door closed. Great. She would have fueled so many rumours with that one…

At least she didn't need to wait for long. Sir Mythros came down the hallway looking utterly displeased. Maybe her father had been lying about the early leave the man had been planning.

"Lucette," he greeted her with a slightly forced smile. "The princess said you wanted to talk with me for some reason and that it couldn't happen in my office?"

Called it. She grimaced slightly. That conversation would have been much more comfortable in an enclosed room with no one overhearing them. "I think she has a few wrong assumptions about the nature of this conversation." Especially because she could see the girl peeking around the corner of the hallway to watch them. Atreus had told her from the very beginning to not watch someone like that, because it was way too obvious. A third person could tell the watched person that someone had been watching after all.

"Charming," the man sighed. "As if I don't have enough work to get done."

Well, she was at least a bit sorry to spring this one on him. "My uncle wants to interrogate you. He says you look like someone he knew from before the Great War," she delivered bluntly, not even slightly beating around the bush.

For one moment the man simply stared at her, as if he was unable to work out what she had just said. "I- I really don't think that can be," he seemed to be looking for an escape route all of sudden.

"He only saw you from afar," she agreed. "He could be wrong. But he is family and looked pretty upset. So you're coming along, so we can get that misconception out of the way."

Leaving no room for arguments, she grabbed the man at the forearm and pulled him to the gate, where Richard was waiting, Atreus way out of sight.

The moment they were out of the gates and the green-haired witch laid eyes on the man, he utterly froze, even resisting the physical pull she had enforced just a moment ago and he had tried to squirm out of unsuccessfully, either out of surprise or simply not sure how.

Richard seemed like… like he had seen a ghost. Then he caught himself and Lucette stepped out of the way, to leave them to their talk and be out of the splatter range, if it came down to it.

And then it went utterly down the drain as multiple things happened at once.

Her great-uncle opened his mouth to speak, Mythros looked paler than she had ever seen him before and outright sickly and the world suddenly exploded in light and someone grabbed her.

Her head hit something hard.

And then the world went away.

-oOo-

The world returned with a hammering headache keeping her from opening her eyes and a mixture of unfamiliar smells. After a minute of getting used to the headache, she opened her eyes.

And promptly closed them when there was dust trailing from the ceiling onto her and stinging in her eyes.

There was a wooden ceiling above her. There was a wooden ceiling in Helena's house as well, but the one in her bedroom looked different. The headache made thinking hard, focusing difficult and it took her some longer to remember what had happened.

She had been in front of the palace and Richard and Mythros had been about to talk. She had hit her head. But that didn't explain where she was. Richard would have brought her to Helena's house. Emelaigne may have put her somewhere inside the palace to wake up, if something had happened, but the ceiling was too low for a room inside the palace. And it was dark outside.

Getting up may have been a bad idea, looking at how dizzy she felt, but she  _ wanted to know where she was! _

A hallway she stumbled along. A staircase she almost fell down, just barely catching herself on the railing. Another doorway and she was standing at the edge of a trashed room. Because there was nothing else she could call what must have been the serving area of a pub, looking at the bar and the upturned tables and chairs.

The two knights were down, a red haired woman helping them up, Delora was just stumbling back to her feet a spectacled man fussing over her and when she looked around further she could see Parfait knocked out on the floor, Atreus standing over her and Waltz squirming in Richard's grip, who was holding him at the collar.

Looking at the whole scene, she was sure that she was missing way too much information to make sense out of what was happening.


	12. Interlude

Rod hadn't been sure what he had expected would happen after he had told Parfait and Delora of the man Lucette had named her uncle. It hadn't even occurred to him that they were related for real until Lucette had claimed that it was the case and in combination with the information of the man having magic, the blonde had made sure to keep his distance.

He was better off far away from any other relatives of Hildyr. Lucette was already becoming scary, knowing that she was letting herself be trained into the ground with the sword. As if knowing that she would end up as the strongest witch hadn't been enough.

But he hadn't thought that the commotion in front of the palace would end up with two terrifying intruders in the palace snatching him at the collar, moving him onto the roof within an instance and dead set on getting the location of the Marchen out of him. He remembered hearing many shouts and screams from the ground. And while he wasn't getting dangled over the edge, he was still trapped on the roof of the palace with two witches armed with blades that had already proven that they could haul him around like he was nothing.

And for all the bravado he wanted to show, he was terrified.

What would happen if they decided to just throw him off the roof? To move on to interrogate Emelaigne? And why couldn't Sebby just stay quiet and keep from spilling all secrets to these two?

But it had happened and he could only hope that everything would be alright. He had possessed no way of warning them, stuck on the roof and clinging to the ridge to not risk slipping from it. And even when he was down, the chance of sneaking off was zero, due to him being promptly accompanied to the king, his mother and sister.

Emelaigne hugged him the moment he was through the door. "I'm so happy you're alright!" the girl sobbed. "Someone kidnapped Lucette and Richard first seemed to try to follow them, but they disappeared in a flash of light and then there was this other man and then they suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the gates and the next thing I know is that you're  _ on the roof with them!" _

"Yes, that summarizes it pretty well," his stepfather agreed as his mother was hugging him as well. The man looked stressed beyond what he had seen before. "Do you have any idea why they snatched you of all people?"

Rod froze.

He couldn't answer without mentioning the Marchen. Or why Lucette had wanted to know about the Marchen. Or why Parfait and Delora had done whatever they had done.

But he couldn't stay quiet either as Emelaigne gave him a pleading look, tears only slowly stopping but still scared about what had happened and the fact that the girl she deemed a friend had gotten kidnapped right in front of her as she had been watching this meeting Lucette had with Mythros.

She had no reason to  _ not _ be sure that they weren't going to come after her as well. Between his family and the Marchen, his family came first. With everything inside him twisting and coiling in an ice cold feeling, he was relieved that he had Sebby, who could talk for him.

There was no way that he would have been able to get out a single word in his normal voice.

-oOo-

When it rains, it pours, Delora noted, pain pounding in her shoulder where she had hit the floor from getting thrown through the room during the initial onslaught. They had thought the Marchen safe, fortified against attacks like that by Parfait and what little magic Delora could bring up in comparison, especially with the additional wards in place after they had decided on a course of action.

Rumpel carefully examined the damage done to her, but Parfait was still down, felled by a surprise attack of someone choking her unconscious after the first attacker had played distraction. They hadn't even known about a second witch involved outside of this uncle.

Even now the black haired man was standing between them, Parfait's unmoving form, the princess and the newest addition to the situation eyeing them with cold, dark eyes, sword still drawn.

But what really caught the eye was the witch behind him. He was old. Visibly so, hair only a few dark strands left, mostly grey and a bit of white sprinkled through it, lines of age dug deeply into his face. His sword was sheathed as he had taken out Parfait, just to port over the room and back, retrieving Lucette from the doorway Delora hadn't even seen her arriving in.

And even now one surprise was racing the next as wisps of energy concentrated around his hands, golden like his eyes, the light seeping into Lucette's temples as he reached out and her clearly concussed look faded, becoming sharper and clearer. She had noticed Rumpel forcing himself to not look at it, a haunted expression on his face.

They knew he had interacted with the witch doctor rumoured around the city and if he recognized what was happening and it was making him uncomfortable despite missing his memories, then they had miscalculated badly. As it seemed they normally did when the princess was involved.

Waltz was also watching, wide-eyed and pale. The proclaimed uncle had thrown him aside when it was clear that he had exhausted his tricks and was no longer a threat.

But with Lucette seemingly becoming lucid again, maybe there was still something to save. Maybe even a bit more, looking at how the older witch was now turning his attention to Parfait and leaving Lucette for herself, who kept herself behind the dark haired one, but highly alerted to her surroundings.

And just like that Parfait's eyes were fluttering open, a controlling hand on her neck to keep her from moving just like that.

"Don't. Move," the man growled. "I didn't survive the witch hunts and most of my family to just let someone kidnap someone under my care. So you better have a good explanation for what you did."

"How did you even find us?" Karma threw in, giving them cold looks back, the knights at his side sitting on the ground. Maybe even better looking at how the first spell had thrown them around.

Delora wasn't used to magical fights being over quickly. Normally there was always the time to dodge a spell or to cast a shield. Even against Hildyr, due to Parfait matching her power. But this man had smashed the door open and had barely given them the time to react, throwing spells at the clusters of people, taking the knights out first, throwing another spell at her and then moving through the room with a short ranged teleportation she hadn't seen used like that before at all.

And Hildyr would have used it to her advantage, if she had been able to port that fast.

When her friend had hurried into the room and trapped the intruder in a spell, the second witch had shown himself, taking her out easily. Waltz had barely registered to them.

"We knew of three parties remembering her," the other witch threw in. "Us, you and a third one we had an eye on that had no chance to undertake this kind of endeavour. And then it was simply getting the location out of the prince."

"Rod told you-?" Waltz gaped at them.

"His bunny did," a smirk. "Put him on a roof and glared a bit and the plushy spilled everything we wanted to know. We left him up there to get down on his own."

She could still remember being amused about Sebby saying things Rod didn't want to be heard. Look at how it can backfire.

"A third party knowing of her?" she asked instead of responding to what he had just said.

"Not of interest for this, if you don't know. Richard?"

The witches changed places and Delora found herself looking at golden eyes, mirroring the shade the princess possessed- her thoughts jerked to a stop.

That. Was impossible. The royal bloodline hadn't contained magic until Hildyr had introduced it! "Who are you?" she got out, feeling like she was choking.

"My name is Atreus. Richard is my son-in-law and you kidnapped my great-great-grandchild," the man replied, sounding utterly displeased. "And you will be explaining yourself."

"Hildyr didn't leave any relatives of hers alive," Parfait said into the silence. "I knew her before. I  _ checked _ . There was no one left." To the end she sounded close to tears.

Another bout of silence and then there was the sound of flesh meeting flesh. It took Delora a moment to notice that -no- Richard hadn't struck Parfait. He had facepalmed and was now rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Richard, do me a favour and introduce yourself," Atreus sighed, seemingly fighting back a headache himself.

The man let go of Parfait and stood straight, like staying attention. "Richard Britton II, older half-brother to Alexander Bitton IV from the first marriage of Marcus Britton I and first in line of succession until I left court behind, in favour of following my wife -Atreus' daughter- back to where she was from together with my son."

Yes. When it rains, it really pours.

-oOo-

It was with no little satisfaction that Richard took in the stares he was receiving from the people not having known that tidbit before.

"I do need to admit though, that I am a half-witch and my wife was from Atreus’ 2nd marriage, while the relative making this one," he gestured at Lucette, "a direct descendant from Atreus is from Atreus' first marriage and Alexander's first wife. If any one of you is old enough to remember that."

The black haired woman stared at them and if she hadn't been sitting already, letting the human doctor fuss over her, she may have fallen over as pale as she looked. The child flopped to the ground where he had been standing, mouth moving without any sound.

"Why now?" the boy finally got out. "Why not during the war? Why not during the hunts?"

Well, that was a fair question.

"We didn't live close to the capital," Atreus said, voice cold. "We spent most of the hunts busy tracking and deflecting mobs from our family. And after Hildyr took over, we had no wish to make ourselves visible to her."

"And after some fanatics torched the house with my wife, my child, my daughter-in-law and my three grandchildren to the ground, we didn't feel much like helping anymore," Richard bit out, still remembering the feeling of something inside him dying all of sudden one night, hurrying back to the house only to find a black skeleton of the house still standing with smoldering embers remaining.

The hole had still been gaping wide inside him when war had neared its end, no longer threatening to consume him, but still too painful to side with humans that had taken this part of his life away. Not getting involved had been the best they could do. Hildyr had needed to die, but even so, years later the first urge Richard had needed to squash was to find his brother's grave and spit on it for letting his subjects run so uncontrolled for so long.

He had pitied Helena's child, but he had also heard from Helena what the man had done -and hadn't done- after his wife had finally died. His respect for him was very low.

"Guess I should have told Rod which side of the family you are from," Lucette commented from the side. "I genuinely forgot that one. But looking at how little they believe you, it may not even have changed anything."

Observant girl. And had not turned out as bad as he had feared, with only Hildyr as a role model. Helena had smoothed a few edges but not done much else in her own words. And there was a difference between being painfully blunt and being deliberately harmful. Which was good. He would have hated to need to act against a family member.

How nice it would have been to get in a conversation with Mythros. Because taking a closer look had not taken the similarity away and the man seemed to have at least partly recognized him as well from his reaction.

But he had also disappeared on them in the short moment between Lucette disappearing and them backtracking for Rod. They would need to wait to see, if he came back out of hiding.

"Well, this is the only warning they are getting. If they want to involve themselves with royalty, they may want to learn diplomacy first," Richard gave them a last cold look and motioned her to come closer. Then he grabbed her, stretched his mind and did the jump-

-and reappeared outside, not even a moment later Atreus following.

"We'll return to Helena with a slight detour to shake off possible tails," the older man said.

"Would you have found me without shaking down Rod for information?" Lucette asked after three more jumps.

"Yes. Not fast, but yes," Richard replied. "There are multiple places shielded against tracking spells. And yes, there is one on you. You are a high value hostage. Each of your parents make you one. Fact is, there weren't many areas like that and pushing against magic like that can be tricky. But only one utterly locked us out instead of just messing with the spell and that would need the most power."

"So you would have checked where the strongest spells were used?"

"Yes."

Lucette nodded quietly and then was quiet the remaining way home.

-oOo-

This day had been an unexpected chaos. Genaro leaned back in his chair in his study. Glancing out of the window into the dark night, he stared at his reflection. It had been evening when the chaos had started and now it was in the middle of the night.

He should be going to his chambers and sleep, but his thoughts were still racing. Genaro had known that Rod had been in contact with a fairy, the stuffed bunny lending its voice to him was proof for that but he hadn't expected-!

He wasn't even sure anymore where to start tackling the whole knot of problems to untangle it.

Lucette was cursed as well. The information itself had been a surprise, because he had never noticed any indication of it. She was polite, blunt sometimes, but well behaved. He had never expected the other tidbit Rod had dropped at them.

Hildyr's child. Lucette was Hildyr's daughter. Hildyr's daughter with a  _ human _ . How did that happen? Hildyr had hated humans, always quoting the witch hunts as a reason, the few times he had wanted to know  _ why _ she was doing all that she was doing.  _ "Your subjects turned me into that," _ she had said.  _ "I'm just evening the scales. The crown didn't do anything when humans killed us, the crown won't do anything when we pay them back!" _

He didn't want to need to worry about his daughter's tutor as well at this point. And he didn't dare to ask Alcaster's opinion anymore either, and Mythros had disappeared as well after the commotion in front of the palace. He hoped the man was alright.

He wished he could still trust his cousin like he had through all the prior years, but… why had the man been hiding that his son disappeared? Maybe the accusations of the discharged knights had caused him to want to keep the whole thing quiet, but it achieved the complete opposite. People were wondering about Fritzgerald's disappearance and most of them didn't even know about the accusations leveled against him months ago.

Worrying about his daughter's tutor may even be the easier topic, as little as he liked to remember Hildyr. He remembered Emelaigne going pale and mentioning how Lucette mentioned that her hair was normally red and that she was dyeing it, because it was attention grabbing.

If Lucette was naturally a redhead then she would have gotten the hair from her mother, if it was similar enough that she dyed it. He tried to recall the girl's face and tried to picture her with the strange shade of red Hildyr had possessed. But even with all his focus turned on it, the golden eyes still burned in contrast against it.

His eyes snapped open and he stared at the dark glass again, the dark backdrop throwing his own eye-colour back at him.

The memory of the one morning slammed into his mind with the force of a carriage smashing into him at full speed. The morning where that one girl had approached him at the gates, which he for some reason hadn't been able to forget, hair a familiar shade of red he had hoped to never see again, claiming-

She had claimed that she was his daughter.

No. No, he would remember that. He would remember having a child by blood. He would remember having a daughter with his eyes!

She wasn't-!

She was cursed. Rod had said she was cursed, but he hadn't said what the curse did, just that it was how she had heard about the Marchen.

_ What did that curse do? _

He would need to track down his son in the morning and ask him a few more questions.

-oOo-

The taste of smoke was still fresh on his tongue, there was a big warm lump of fur curled up on his chest and he was still curled up on the floor, fingers tapping uncontrollable against the floor as he shivered from the cold not coming from a physical cause.

The dead were dead and never returned. Even his queen would be awoken instead of resurrected, because she had very simply never died in the first place.

Diablos squirmed against his grip and nuzzled the crook of Myth's neck for a bit before settling down again.

_ Who had that man been? And how had the princess met him? _

It had already been surprising enough to run into her in the palace of all places after searching for her for a month and her father wasn't making the whole thing any easier. Hopefully his queen was willing to simply look at it as the delusions of a romantic fool, because otherwise he would be in a heap of trouble he had no idea to get out of.

Even so he preferred thinking about the punishment and how every single time he had wanted to tell her that he remembered her and why they got interrupted somehow.

Everything to not think of that man.

His fingers kept tapping against the ground, the sound swallowed by the stacks of books and scrolls around him, which hadn't fit into the shelves. He should be working on further cataloging them. Or check on the herbs in the greenhouse under the roof. Or get himself to leave for the palace to work on his paperwork, there had already been more than enough when the princess had ordered him to the gates to meet with his queen’s daughter, but when he had seen him-

He had welcomed the distraction whatever it was. It had allowed him to run. To hide. To plan.

Just that he wasn't planning but on the floor in one of his rooms at home and cuddling his cat while simultaneously trying to figure out why the normal mixture wasn't working on calming him down, despite having smoked almost double the amount.

His heart was still beating too fast. His breathing was still too shallow. He was still shivering.

The person the face belonged to, the person the man pretended to be was  _ dead! _

_ Dead!Dead!Dead!Deaddeaddeaddead-! _

Diablos made a distressed sound and he let go on reflex and the cat promptly escaped his too tight grip.

And left him behind alone with his thoughts and memories and doubts and  _ it couldn't have been him! _

It couldn't have been. He was dead. Everyone from back then was dead. No one was left. Just him. Only him. That was why his queen had taken him in. Because there had been nowhere else to go.

He had accepted that years ago.

So why now? Why now when the time of the return of his queen was approaching?

Why did the ghosts decide to hunt him again after all this.

Curling up into himself, Myth tried to get his breathing under control.

He didn't manage to. Of course he didn't manage. He had never been enough back then. Not good enough, not talented enough, not powerful enough, no matter how hard he trained.

But he needed this to work. He only had one shot at this.

Just one try.

And ghosts- And ghosts were just memories and things of the past. They should stay there.


	13. Chapter 09 - Training beginns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, everything still going acceptable, I guess. Everything outside seems to be under control at least. I hope all of you are doing alright.  
> As it is, for a small cheer up, you're getting a late Easter gift. You remember the dancing scene in chapter 7? I added something small to the end of it and hope you all like it.^^
> 
> As it is, have a new chapter guys!
> 
> PS: Dicesuki, the developers of Cinderella Phenomenon announced the official release date for the fandisk. It's still a long time 'till November, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Something had changed with her kidnapping. For one Richard and Atreus wouldn't be able to go near the palace again after what they did to get the information out of her stepbrother. In response to having no bodyguard left, Lucette wasn't going near the palace anymore either, especially because she didn't know what Rod had told her father about what happened.

And even if he hadn't giving anything away, they had attacked a member of the royal family. The chance of there being any hospitality left was pretty low. Especially if she turned up with them as bodyguards, no matter their reasons for what they did.

Daily drills and work at the store kept her from thinking, if she was sad about this change or not and whenever they weren't keeping an eye on her, Atreus and Richard were combing the city for information and checking out the palace for changes, watching patrols and the general comings and goings. 

After the disastrous confrontation at the gates Mythros had disappeared and the information about his home was a lot more difficult to obtain when they weren't able to go anywhere near the palace to ask for it. Lucette had wanted to give them directions where she had met Diablos what felt like ages ago, but no matter which street she took, the small park seemed unfindable.

The other witches guessed that with her not having reached maturity yet there was a ward deflecting her that she couldn't sense with no magic of her own yet and set to the work of pinning down the warded areas Richard had mentioned to her on the way back from the Marchen.

But the search was proving difficult with not even a hint to go on. Either Mythros had established bases all over the city -likely if he had allies that could fuel the spells, unlikely if he was working all alone- or there were multiple clusters of magic users all over the city -which was a possibility looking how this was the capital- or a combination of both.

So they needed to locate physical locations the wards were maintained from instead of just the area they covered, without giving away that they were there. It wouldn't do, if they destroyed the wards of someone not involved with the whole thing and neither did they want to race him from one hiding place to the next or to one outside the city they would never find.

Lucette was suffering through her training without complaint, hoping that at some point she would stop feeling like falling over and needing to drink a potion to last through the day. Both men saw her point and would have preferred to just do the drills in the evening, with her working the store in the morning till noon, but Emelagine had visited two times within the last week, not openly saying that she wanted to meet Lucette, gratefully accepting the knowledge that she was 'rescued' though, and not even mentioning Atreus and Richard.

Avoiding the girl would be the least complicated thing with everything going on, as she had a tight schedule to prepare her for the ball. Lucette had only ever told her about magical ancestry, not about them being witches and her grandmother had told her how tense the girl had looked while talking with her. And so she would stay away until the girl got over herself and said that she wanted to talk with her or told Helena that the tutoring lessons weren't over yet.

Looking how the girl had always insisted that they were friends and would have known that she would end up as a witch before getting cursed and had still been annoyingly friendly, the blonde better got over it before she grew into her powers. She wanted to keep some playtime with Snowball when she was back in the palace.

Another thing she kept trying to not think about was the Marchen and its inhabitants. Most of them were not old enough to have known about Richard even existing or not old enough to have cared about the line of inheritance more than four decades ago. But Lucette was still bitter about how they went about things, now even more so than before.

Either they were holding still and just watching and when time was running out, they rushed in to push the world back into what it was supposed to be in their point of view and not seeming to think about the consequences. Currently their involvement had robbed her of her standing in the palace while uncursed by cursing her and while cursed by causing a commotion big enough to summon the knights.

Sure, she had learned of Helena like that, had found family she hadn't even known still alive, an old letter the only hint of them existing, but they couldn't have known that. They had planned to keep her in the inn and doing whatever. Lucette couldn't even think of a task they may have assigned her. She didn't want to dwell on it either.

The thought of Waltz was still accompanied by some emotion twisting and echoing inside her. Richard and Atreus had agreed on not touching or prodding the memory spells. They didn't know how the spells were cast, what exactly had been erased and what was going to be risked by messing with them. They could increase the strength by accident and erase even more, twist them into something different by accident or simply making the whole thing permanent. If they weren't already and the long time of not knowing anything missing had erased the memories completely.

Nature would run its course and the Tenebrarum would cleanse her of cast magic when she reached maturity, curse, memory spell and whatever may have been left.

Looking at Delora she was just bitter. The woman had spent six months just watching and after seeing that Lucette wasn't what she deemed acceptable set out to 'correct it' via magic. It sounded uncomfortably similar to what her mother seemed to have done. Maybe her intentions were better, but it still didn't seem right with the girl. Especially because they didn't seem to have any system in place to keep stuff from happening in the palace that may affect her long term after breaking the curse had run its course.

And it had utterly spoiled dolls for her as well.

Maybe she was being petty. The adults in the house agreed that the curse was an act of desperation more than anything else and may have been avoided if they had gotten in contact with her earlier, instead of just watching, but in the end it was just a lot of what-ifs and no clear answers to them, just the facts about what had happened. And no one told her to be _happy_ about being cursed. 

The training at least allowed her to work off the jittery energy building up inside her while thinking about the Marchen.

"Allright, try to follow me!" Atreus called out from a bit further away and made a running leap at the wall. Lucette had no illusions about matching his speed or even taking the same leverages he used. The broken down mansion had become their playground during the last days. Three weeks were nothing to build up stamina to run and jump with no pause, but she still found herself enjoying the thrill of the first jumps she dared and succeeded in taking.

She was learning to keep her balance and how to measure the distance she could jump. And as a small challenge Atreus had scattered shields with numbers along the route, she was supposed to look at and memorize without stopping. It was fun, if she dared to label it. She was pretty sure that would be something she was going to miss when her curse was broken. But then the palace grounds were big and she was sure that it should be possible to set up some kind of course for her to keep in shape.

Suffering through all the sore muscles and not having any gain from it? Yeah, not happening. And she really needed a way to defend herself if magic wasn't an option.

Another leap, another landing, another jump, catching the edge of the next platform and pulling herself up. She could feel her heart racing inside her chest from exhaustion and slowed down, to at least reach the end of the course. Atreus was always upping the work a bit when she made progress. It seemed working very well to get her into shape, but she hated how her lungs burned regularly.

Her feet hit grass and she rolled the momentum off. Full stops were the worst thing she could do, she had noticed pretty quickly. "That's enough for today," the witch said and Lucette let herself slump to the ground, to get her breathing back under control.

"What are we going to do about the Marchen now?" she finally asked. They had planned to use them to fill the gaps in their knowledge about the end of the war after all. With the trouble they had caused the option was off the table. They would need to either hunt someone else down who had been involved or live with the fact that they didn't know the details of what went down.

"I'm not sure. They were being idiots, but they still have the Lucis bearer on their side and the woman has pull, even if she doesn't know or notices," the man grimaced. "If someone in court wants to cause trouble, they'll just need to point out how utterly unable we were to work together with the woman, who matched Hildyr's strength in the war and was vital to the resistance."

Which would at least create suspicion and distrust, no matter how reasonable and understandable it would have been for Lucette to stay away from her. Which meant they would need to try to play nice if there was any new contact.

The contact better didn't involve Delora or the two idiotic knights.

"Maybe you could offer healing as a peace offering," she said instead. "The woman looked quite sickly. Or as a bribe of some kind."

"The war wasn't kind to her," Atreus agreed. "It would be an option. But even so, I would only offer healing her. I am not some kind of free pass for people to get hurt. And I prefer it not to be widely known what I can do.”

"People searching you out?" she guessed and received a nod.

"Doctors don't treat people for free and being generous for it will stuff you into a loop with strangers trying to hunt you down, because you 'healed them, why not me as well?' no matter the situation. Tends to be not worth the trouble long term." After a short moment of silence he added: "And doesn't even build up enough goodwill to spare you from being hunted down by witch hunters."

Lucette wasn't a forgiving person and neither were Atreus or Richard. They were holding onto the good memories just like the bad to keep what was left of the family that died in some fire. She would have loved to meet these people now far out of her reach.

"Can you teach me healing as well, when I get magic? Helena said that my eye color is a sign I will have this ability."

A snort. "It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes, in this case that's true. I'll tell you about it some other time."

"But you will teach me?" Lucette found herself caring less and less about having magic at some point. The thought of being unable to control it was bothering her more. And maybe she wanted to be able to copy the teleportation Atreus and Richard were doing and the way how they had mixed it into their fighting style and how they used it to freely move around. She was also pretty sure that they were holding out on her on that matter.

"Up to know I saw no reason against it. Waltz may have offered to teach you, curse or not, but who knows what Hildyr focused her lessons on." A thoughtful look entered his face. "That may have been something Mythros was playing towards. A position as your teacher and influencing the next bearer. He already has the kings trust. But then I doubt the king knows what he is. But facing the situation of you having magic and no way to control it and no teacher being willing to approach the palace, he may have welcomed the easy solution without bothering to look into it."

"And I may have welcomes not needing to leave the palace to learn," she hummed. It would make sense. "Or maybe he just enjoys having the king listening to him despite being a witch." Also a possibility.

"Well, we can ponder conspiracies later. Get cleaned up to get to the store before Helena starts wondering, where we are."

-oOo-

Waltz was still doing his shows in the area near the shop on the plaza. It wasn't surprising, the area was full of people that may be willing to watch his shows and springing a coin for the entertainment. It had been easy for Richard to find him, even with him having taken to the roofs, the common way for him to move around the city with the knights probably looking for him and Atreus.

It had been ten days after the incident of the palace and the lull of the routine was steady and she welcomed it, but it was also driving her slightly up the wall. The palace was in full swing preparing the ball, only slightly slowed down by the incident. Alcaster was still planning _something_ , Mythros was still able to escape Richard's and Atreus attention, which seemed to frustrate them without end. Which also pushed the need to approach the Marchen, if only to get into contact with Rod and get information about what was going on inside the palace.

Currently they were flying blind, outside of the scraps of information they were able to scrounge up by listening in on knights. The increased security made sneaking in more difficult and it seemed that there were still some wards her mother had created that kept them from making a magical jump over the threshold and either they didn't know the technique used and where as such unable to bypass it or they needed to be keyed into it -much more likely with the power her mother had possessed.

Delora had gotten inside by pretending to be a doll and Mythros had simply used the front gate. There was a secret passage she had never even heard about, but it needed a key and they didn't have one. It was also spelled against getting opened by magic. Troublesome but secure.

They could theoretically just walk into the Marchen to make their offer, but after the last disaster just turning up may be suboptimal at best and at worst provoke another attack. And Waltz was just offering to be used as a messenger, being out in the open like that.

To keep the crowd from noticing anything was going to happen they all three stayed on the roof, watching the performance from afar while waiting for it to end. It was pretty entertaining, Lucette needed to admit, even if childish. But then Waltz looked like a child so it may even out.

"Do we trap him in an alley or pull him to the roofs?" she asked curiously, before frowning. That sounded a lot worse said like that out loud. Richard seemed to have noticed as well, because he was snickering. Atreus just rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"You will wait for him at an alley and ask him. If he agrees to talk we take to the roofs," the dark haired witch grinned. "Get ready. Can't be long looking how he's packing up."

Or that. Shrugging she rose from the roof first she had been sitting on and rolled her shoulders to get the stiffness out the wait had let settled there. The new boots had a lot more grip on the tiles and she appreciated how she was able to walk more surely over the roof's slope. Not faster, but steadier. Not that every roof was made for it, but there were enough flat ones that allowed easy travel.

Using them even excursions into the city wouldn't be too much trouble, seeing as no one seemed to think about looking up and as such couldn't glare at her. She may not be able to leave the palace and go straight to the roofs, but she would just need a single moment unobserved and she would be free of the glares and whispers. At least as soon as she had magic and learned to do the jump.

She was getting used to getting moved with it as well, barely flinching when Richard grabbed her to move her onto the ground. Just moving into his line of sight and looking straight at him while he was looking back was already enough to almost make him fall over himself to get to her.

And when he opened his mouth, he didn't get a single word out, as if he didn't know what to say. Deciding to play nice she gave him the time to come up with something.

"I'm sorry?" was what finally came out of his mouth.

She raised a brow at him in surprise. "For what?" Lucette was quite curious about that one.

"We did some real damage by taking you like that. You hit your head and we couldn't have known Atreus was another witch doctor. And they Atreus and Richard couldn't have known what we were planning, so getting the information about where we are as fast as possible was reasonable for them and in response Rod was forced to tell the king about your curse and why you were cursed," Waltz explained.

"He knows I am Hildyr's daughter," she concluded blankly. Yes, staying away from the palace may be better for her currently. Grimacing she scratched any plans about going there. "I appreciate the apology, but that is not really why I approached you. Question is, if you have the time to talk."

Red eyes wide, he nodded hastily and before he could say anything else each of them were snatched by an adult and displaced to the roofs. Waltz screamed startled. And only didn't fall over, because Atreus grabbed his belt. At least it was a flat roof so the risk of him slipping on a slope and falling down wasn't there.

He gave them a wide eyed look and then glanced around curiously.

"You look like you never saw someone appear like that," Richard raised a brow at him. "Surprising when it is known Hildyr taught you and it was among her skills."

"But she didn't teach it," Waltz mumbled. "There were portals and curses and wards and offensive spells, but that was a skill she didn't share. Not that I can use anything I learned as I am. The curse limits my abilities strongly."

Noting that information down, Lucette went back to what they were meeting for. "As it is, Parfait is still the Lucis bearer. And everything aside working against each other would be… problematic," she said. "Especially when people remember me and the court members learn of it and try to cause trouble. So we have… something like a peace offering."

Waltz blinked in confusion. "You do?"

"I did trash your serving area," Richard shrugged. "And smacked your security around." No matter how much the situation demanded it.

"Rod tried to look up stuff about you," Waltz turned to Richard. "But he only found something in the family tree and that you married and the name of your son, everything else was… missing."

A grimace followed that statement. "I would like to hate Alexander even more, but it is most likely what kept Hildyr from finding me during the war," he sighed. "He hated that I was lined up to receive even more power while also getting magic among reaching eighteen, while he was a normal human. And a pathetic one at that."

"But that has nothing to do what we are offering," Atreus cut into the derailment. "I knocked Parfait out. I healed her afterward, yes, but I also go a clear look of her condition. And I do think it is treatable to full recovery."

The child witch stared at him with an unreadable face for a moment. "I can understand if the current relations and newest happenings may make it difficult for my offer to sound safe-" Atreus started started as Waltz blurted out "That would be great!"

The gray haired witch raised a brow at him, either because of the interruption or because of the content of the exclamation.

"It really would be! Parfait can barely cast spells, without making her condition worse, maybe even permanently so," the boy explained. "Rumpel is a doctor and she got a bit better, but there is only so much he can do as a human and we tried to find the witch doctor after the war but never managed and pushing it seemed a bad idea to widely announce how weakened she was, just in case someone tried to start trouble with no full powered bearer around."

"Good. Tell her the offer is there and to tell Helena the answer. After the last evening there I doubt they would take kindly to us just turning up there," Richard said and Waltz winced, most likely imagining the reactions.

"At least Lucette would be… allowed around," he said instead carefully. "Not welcomed after everything that happened, but not driven out."

"Then she would need to wait for the healing until I am eighteen _and_ trained and who knows what'll happen till then," Lucette huffed. "And I am still cross with them about the whole mess. I wanted to know where the Marchen is, so you could fill these two in what happened at the end of the great war, because I only heard mother had an accident of some kind and fairies helping to end the war and nothing else."

"You'll be able to- Right. I guess I'll ask for information another time, " Waltz shook his head. "I should get to the Marchen and tell them, before they send a squad to look for me. Uhm..." The boy glanced from the roof down and turned to the adults. "Could you… please?"

With a hissing sound Richard disappeared with Waltz and then reappeared alone. "That went better than expected. Let's get you home."

-oOo-

Two days of work and training, in which there had been no word from the Marchen, but Richard had once again proven his love for dangerous toys, presenting her with a small crossbow like gadget to be attached to the lower arm, which could be hidden under a wide sleeve, if necessary. It made her wonder how many more dangerous toys he had in store and what else he had he hadn't shown her yet.

Shooting it was much more difficult though and the first dozen shot were missing the target completely. But it was a handy little device she could imagine useful, especially when the enemy didn't expected it. 

The training was helping her forget at least temporarily the ramifications of her father knowing whose child she was. With her mother being the driving force behind the last war she could most likely be lucky there hadn't been any knights yet escorting her to the palace. She wasn't sure how fast she would run, if it happened.

And what to do once her curse was broken.

So instead she spend her days training and letting Helena teach her new stuff about knitting and sewing despite knowing that she may never need these skills again as soon as she was back in her old life. As much as she could go to how it was before with everything she had learned.

So having the red haired woman from the Marchen turn up in the store on the third day was a relief in itself, because it meant at least one situation was proceeding and some tension getting relieved.

"Parfait would love to accept that offer," Karma said, after a short round of introductions. "But… requests that not all of you turn up. Or at least not all of you go inside to keep keep everything amicable."

Lucette turned to Atreus. He was the one walking into the lion's den after all. "I don't have a problem with that," he finally said. "I know how to make myself difficult to hit. When?"

"You could come along with me right away," the redhead said. "Everyone is eager for her to get better. You're officially invited along, princess. With everything that went down we do hope to better relations with you."

A quick look over to Helena and the woman sighed. "Run along. I'm almost closing for the day anyway. Try to whack the knights in a sparring match or something, if they act up."

Lucette perked up. She could do that! Well, maybe. If she was good enough. Maybe her fighting style would be good enough to surprise them and she did have her blade with her. Didn't go anywhere without it.

Richard was fighting back a laugh at how eager she must have looked at that. "Let's get going. I can give you pointers and check over how you deal with someone you didn't fight with yet. And it will give you some practice against the common fighting style of the knights around here. They should all be using a similar style after trained by the Order as they are and using the same kind of weapon." It didn't seem to be something Karma expected, because she was giving them an owlish expression, but didn't comment on it in the end. 

-oOo-

When they reached the Marchen, Atreus went inside with Karma who asked them to wait outside for a bit. Lucette was surprised when she returned not wearing a dress but with a sword as well.

"My curse causes trouble with uncursed women," she said. "So I am crossdressing as a woman to keep the troubles low. As one of the knights is a woman I tend to dress at least partly female to keep her by being distracted by the curse."

"Lead the way then, pretty boy," Richard commented, sounding utterly unsurprised. Either he had known or didn't care. Lucette just wondered how she had missed that the woman was a man all along. How could a man be pretty enough to be mistaken for a beautiful woman?

She was still frowning about it, when they reached the clearing behind the inn where the two knights were waiting.

"Karma, what are they doing here?" The blonde woman said, glaring at them.

"Peace, Jurien," the disguised man sighed. "Atreus came along to start healing Parfait and keeping them outside was a compromise to him not coming alone."

"I'm training the girl in the sword," Richard rumbled from the side. "There was the possibility of a sparring match mentioned and she could do with some practice against someone else than me."

Both knights looked at each other surprised and then over to Lucette. "You'll need a sword, we have a spare one-" Jurien broke off wide eyed as Lucette took the sword handle from her belt and let the blade unfold with a flick.

She must have looked a bit too eager, because her uncle promptly threw in that Atreus would be unhappy to interrupt the healing of the fairy to take care of a training emergency. And then he dared to chuckle when she glared at him. Then she was still eager to get in a hit for their treatment of her during her first meeting, so what?

As it turned out she wasn't good enough to wipe the ground with them as she wanted. Barely four weeks of training didn't make up for their years of training and experience and much higher endurance.

But she was giving them more than enough trouble, as both of them didn't seem to really know how to fight someone not using a traditional sword and was weaving around their movements more than meeting them to block. And was also fighting less than honourable.

Lucette aimed for weak spots as she saw them and had no trouble smacking the sword handle into the inside of Garlan's elbow, turning his next strikes limp, less coordinated and a lot weaker until he got the feeling in his hand back.

Her fighting style seemed to frustrate them as much as her inability to get a clear win out of the whole thing. It was still exhilarating to fight them. It was still a loss to her against both knights though. She had a break between both fights to catch her breath, not that it helped her against her other opponent.

She lost both times in the end but was still feeling better than she had before. Or at least calmer about them.

Karma promptly took both knights aside to talk about them, maybe about their fighting and how to adapt to a new kind of opponent, maybe to get a better description how it was to fight her instead of just watching. Lucette didn't really care as Richard took her aside to talk with her about things she would need to improve on.

"Excuse me, you're teaching the princess the sword?" Karma asked some time later as Richard had her running through a few drills. "Would it be possible for me to have a match against you?"

"Me and my father-in-law are both teaching her," Richard said and pulled out his own sword. "I would love a match. It has been some time since I fought anyone outside Atreus for fun."

Karma smiled and they both took position. "All out, without magic and only the sword?" he asked when he was facing the redhead, sword already raised in a defensive position.

"Have an only sword match and then you can use all three against a 1-vs-3 match," Lucette threw in, having stopped her drills to pay her full attention to what was going to happen. A short glance to the knights made them agree after a short moment and Karma nodded as well, even if he looked a bit unnerved at the question.

Then the fight was on and Lucette felt her breath catch. Richard was _fast_. Faster than she had ever seen him move before, movements blurring with the speed he moved. Karma matched the first few strikes, seemingly having expected them from watching her fight, before he was pushed into the defensive by the sheer onslaught of odd angles and strikes.

Richard twisted out of the way of the few odd strikes Karma managed to get in before he got used to the fighting style and the fight evened out a bit. The crossdresser was an excellent swordsman, Lucette could easily see that and a lot more flexible in his fighting style then the two knights were. Which made it curious where he was from. Someone like that wouldn't have been overlooked in the Order, if there wasn't a good reason for it.

Maybe people had been embarrassed about the curse and swept it under the rug for some reason. But she doubted Fritz would have cared, looking at the few times he had voiced how he missed fighting someone with equal skills. And while she had never seen him fight, she had seen the odd training session.

Forcing the thoughts of Fritz aside, she went back to watching the fight. Karma was pressing forward and Richard evaded instead of blocking the strike like he had done with a few other ones. Richard faked to one side and Karma still caught the blade. It was fascinating to watch and Lucette tried to remember a few moves that seemed effective to try to copy later on.

The fight ended quietly and quick. And utterly hilarious to Lucette, because it was the way she had hit the ground so very often at the beginning.

Karma pushed forward again, Richard dodged, grabbed his opponents collar and flipped him onto the back to the ground, the sword being sent flying as Karma let go in surprise. Watching him lying in the dirt, looking utterly confused made her fight back a snicker, to her own surprise. It was still hilarious to think about how a clearly experienced sword fighter had gotten taken down like she had been so many times already.

"I really didn't expect that one," the younger man finally said, getting to his feet again, his smile a bit strained.

"It turns out that most people really don't expect that one," he shrugged. "But I am really curious how you'll do as a team against me." To the end of that statement, Richard was smirking. And not in a nice way. 

The three humans took position, swords raised, Richard had his sword handle loosely in one hand, blade still hidden and Lucette gave the signal to start.

There was a burst of motion and- Richard was gone, reappearing behind his opponents ready to strike. The fight boiled down to lots of scrambling and wild twirling around whenever Richard disappeared -Lucette was sure that he was sometimes waiting a few moments in a near tree to let them look for him a bit longer, it did keep the intervals uneven- and their resulting utter inability to pin him down or push him into any kind of lock.

He was fast, unpredictable and utterly ruthless. Garlan got one sleeve pinned to a tree via wrist bolt thrower and disarmed while he was trying to figure out why his movement was restrained. Karma was thrown down like before and Jurien ended up in a chokehold until she dropped her sword.

"Good fight," the witch commented. "You lasted longer than most people I dealt with."

"How many did you fight that knew that you were coming at them?" Karma wheezed from the ground, which made Richard stop and frown, before shrugging uncaringly.

"You are going to teach me that," Lucette demanded when he stepped back to her. "As soon as I have magic you teach me that teleportation spell!"

"That spell is a basic," the man agreed. "Atreus figured out a spell how to speed only himself up for a few seconds, allowing him to take multiple opponents out before you can blink. We revelled in unorthodox magic applications."

They ignored Karma flopping back to the floor in resignation and groaning about there being another one and that one was enough already, there didn't need to be more.

-oOo-

"How many sessions will Atreus need to treat Parfait fully?"

Another day, another evening and walking back home with Richard. With the streets empty and further away from the palace meaning less patrols Richard was walking next to her instead of keeping an eye on her from the roofs.

He seemed to ponder her question for a bit before answering. "I don't know. He said that she was in a pretty bad state, though. He seemed surprised that she didn't manage to kill herself via overexertion yet. So it may take some sessions. Difficult to measure for me. You should ask Atreus directly when he comes back."

The woman had been in a really bad state then. It definitely lowered the chances of her associates trying anything against Atreus, if only to keep up her treatment. Maybe they were simply relieved to have some kind of communication with her, even if only indirect.

"Is it wrong of me to wonder how long it will take for them to screw it up?" Their track record with Lucette hadn't really been going well after all. She had been cursed, they had been alienating Friz (maybe rightfully so, but he was missing now and who knew why), had outright threatened her when she had been visiting the first time and had ended with them kidnapping her in a fit of panic due to their standard modus operandi seemingly being to wait and watch until they couldn't and resort to magic at that point.

"I would be lying, if I said that I think everything is going to end up smoothly," Richard agreed. "But Atreus has some patience and can simply stop the treatment until both sides calm down. Some tension is expected after what happened- Where are you going?"

Lucette stilled at the question and stopped walking. She was going home like always, why was he asking? She turned to him to answer, just to look at the street they were normally taking. At some point she had turned to another street. She knew enough about her surrounds that she knew that the new path would also lead home, but not as directly.

"I didn't notice I was turning around," she blinked. For some reason something inside her resisted taking that street, despite how familiar it had gotten. Frowning, she forced herself to move- and almost stumbled as something like a thread seemed to snap. Richard caught her as she almost went falling.

And seemed to brush something, like a wall, which shimmered and rippled at the touch, before smoothing out again, but not becoming invisible.

"That's a ward," Richard said, stepping closer to it. "Stay out, I'm going to check out the street you almost took." Before she could say anything he had already disappeared, leaving her looking at the shimmering discoloration floating in the air. Feeling a bit queasy looking at the anomaly she pulled away from it into the shadows to keep an eye on the second street and the light at the same time.

For a few minutes everything seemed silent and nothing happened. Then there was movement behind the light and she jerked backwards when a familiar form burst through the light, changing the spider web like cracks into a hole.

Dark skinned, dark hair, mask on his face and disheveled and wrinkled clothing, which still looked expensive and a cane.

And he had seen her, stopping his run.

"Look at that… Little Red running right into my arms," he smirked. "So I _am_ getting lucky this evening after all."

He drew closer and she retreated, making sure to not get caught against a wall. "My name is Varg, princess," his voice was a low purr. "We may have gotten off the wrong foot initially, but if you have the time to listen-"

With a shattering sound like glass, but also much quieter the wall which had blocked the street fell completely, crumbling down in shards, followed by running steps. Varg snarled and tried to lung forward to grab her, as Lucette already danced backward. He snatched her, as he tore past her and she twisted, finding enough purchase on the floor, to almost make him smack into the wall by his own momentum.

Running steps and she was flying as he hauled her up and threw her at whoever had been hounding him.

A strong smell of herbs greeted her as they both went down and Varg disappeared into the night. Trying to re-orientate herself, she wondered, why she hadn't thought about shouting for her uncle. The man she had flown into cursed lowly as he helped her up and for a moment she wondered why he wasn't just leaving her on the icy ground to race after the other guy, when she looked up.

"Sir Mythros?" she wasn't sure what surprised her more. That he was here, that he had been hounding Varg, or that he had prioritized her over him.

"Princess- I mean-" he stumbled over his own words and then seemed to remember Varg. Just like the evening at the palace she grabbed his arm, before he could run.

"I know that you're a witch. I overheard you and Alcaster talk one evening," she snapped out. "I know that it means you remember me. And I heard Alcaster saying that you cursed Fritz. And I want answers."

"Which is why I should really get Varg-" he started, trying to loosen her grip.

"Pity, that I want these answers _now_ ," she replied mercilessly. She at least wanted some. If she shouted for Richard he was most likely going to run, surely using a lot more force than now, when he clearly didn't dare to hurt her, looking how he went into hiding right after seeing him. "Who are you? Who are you really? And where is Fritz?"

The man had gone paler the more she said.

"I- the name your mother gave me is Myth," he finally got out. "And Varg is the reason why Fritz isn't around. Its creation has to do with Fritz's disappearance."

"It? Not he?" she frowned at him. "Mother named you? I already learned what she was, speak clearly."

"Varg is… a construct. Build on strengthened aspects the knight was hiding, just like people hide what they don't want others to see. Like flares of jealousy. Like fear of things. He is interwoven with the fairytale curse, to lessen the energy and time needed to create him," the witch replied. "Like a wolf, it hunts down its prey. As Fritz rejected the offer his father gave him, the man knew his son couldn't walk free with that knowledge and it would be a pity to waste his skills."

"And so you cursed him to forget the meeting," she glared at the man. "Why have him attack me?"

A flinch and a wide eyed look. She hadn't thought the man could get even paler. "It wasn't supposed to! It was just supposed to find you and report back but it… slipped its leash, so to speak. Despite everything Varg is not more alive than a spelled object. Like the prince's bunny, without magic there is nothing to sustain him and he would… fade," he twitched and stared into the darkness. "He was never supposed to become that strong. Despite everything I knew you would be very cross, if your knight came to harm. Varg was never supposed to be so completely in control. But I was rushed to cast the curse and there were… consequences and now Varg is assimilating Fritz into himself, to never fade."

A dry swallow. "If you know what your mother was, you know what you'll be reaching maturity. I thought you would be more… lenient, if I could at least present you your pet knight. My plan was to corner him this evening, put him into a stasis for you to uncurse when you learned how to do it."

There were still quite some holes in the story, but with Mythros- Myth a witch it at least made sense that he would look for a way to make sure she had a reason to lessen his punishment, as she was going to be the next Tenebrarum bearer.

She was still not feeling happy about what was happening. "So, Alcaster offered him something -most likely illegal-, he rejected it and then you cursed him and now Varg is running around, slowly killing him off!?" she snarled.

He jerked, like someone had slapped him. "That… yes."

Lucette forced herself to take a deep breath. At least he wasn't trying to play down his role in the whole mess-!

She almost fell forward when there was a sudden pull, as Myth seemed to try retreat back down the street he had come from, forcing her to let go to keep her balance-

"Lucette!" -and Richard was next to her, making sure she didn't fall.

Myth had retreated back almost twenty meters, nothing for a short teleportation. At least if they deemed him an enemy. But just now he had been cooperative, as soon as she had made sure that he stayed to answer questions.

For a few moments, he and Richard just stared at each other, before he started backing further away as Richard raised his hands, showing his empty palms.

"I just want to ask a few questions," he said calmly, not even trying to close the distance. "Nothing else. Just a few questions."

"He said his name is Myth," Lucette threw in. "And that mother named him."

The dark haired man frowned and for a moment, Lucette wondered if there was more to names for witches than to humans- "She would have only bothered with anything like that, if she had taken you as an apprentice," Richard said slowly. "Which makes me wonder, why no one knew about you. I thought Waltz was her only apprentice at the time of the uprising."

A flicker of something dark flickered over his face, twisting it into something hateful. But he also stayed quiet, gaze flickering around, for a moment. "I… did not meet all requirements to be officially introduced as one of hers," he bit out after a moment. "But she took me in after the Hunts and I'll not betray that."

"Because she offered you something better to what you had?" His voice was even and quiet.

"There was nothing left and no reason to stay!" Lucette almost jerked back at the snarl Myth spit out. "Just ashes and dust!" Something in Richard seemed to snap awake, though, as he surged to attention. A spark of magic and suddenly Myth bolted.

Lucette had no idea what kind of magic Richard had tried to cast, but it was enough to sent Myth running. His first spell got intercepted as Richard surged forward and the younger man cancelled the spell in favor for a light blast, blinding them, the pressure throwing Richard backward.

"Wait!" Lucette blinked into the darkness, trying to see. Myth was even further away, halfway in the shadows of an alley, Richard was getting to his feet, closer to herself. The younger witch seemed to try to repeat casting his spell- "Wait! Myron!"

The name meant something. Myth flinched, the energy of his spell sizzling in the air, as he visibly lost his concentration and- a shadow dropped from the roof, right on top of him, hand raised to knock him out- and missed as the witch disappeared in a flash of light.

Atreus stood up straight where he had landed and gave them both a long look. "Helena was wondering what you two were doing that you were running so late," he said calmly. "But I didn't expect that."

"I don't think he'll be happy about almost being knocked out," Lucette commented idly, trying to ignore the way Richard scrambled over to his father-in-law. He had called Myth Myron and she was wondering where she had heard the name before…

"He was losing his concentration in the middle of a teleportation spell. At least he didn't leave any limbs behind," the grey haired witch shot back and added after a few moments: "May have a rough landing, though."

"And I got a few answers as well," Lucette threw in, still ignoring the utterly heartbroken expression on her uncle's face. "I should explain when we're inside the wards and somewhere warmer."

Richard didn't say anything for the whole way back and then disappeared on them the moment they were home. It was after she had given Atreus and Helena a rundown of what happened that she voiced her own question.

"Helena? Who is Myron?" she asked in the silence of the room, one of the cats curled up on her lap, the other over her shoulders. "I heard that name before, but I can't recall where."

Her grandmother stilled and glanced over to Atreus, who sighed. "Richard's son Aion and his wife Selene named their firstborn son Myron after Aion's mother Mýrún, who was a healer and helped during the difficult birth to make the child survive."

Lucette pondered that answer, but didn't say anything else. Later, when she was lying in her bed, she wondered what it felt like to find a person you thought dead alive, after believing them dead for years. The utterly desperate tone of Richard calling him to wait came to mind together with the utterly crushed and heartbroken expression when the other witch was gone.

She was lying awake for a long time.


End file.
